#arc v analysis

Let’s talk about the fact that Yusho isn’t entirely pushing an entertainment persona onto Yuya. I’m certain he’s beyond happy that his son looks up to him and is following in his footsteps, but he’s never wanted Yuya to be like him. He’s wanted Yuya to be like Yuya. 

I mean...

Children of celebrities and public figures like Yusho usually have their work cut out for them. If normal kids are already expected by their parents to be the absolute best at everything, I think celeb kids can have it especially hard because they’re dealing with living up to their parents’ expectations, their own expectations, and lastly...

Society’s expectations.

y’all know where i’m going with this, right? 

*coughszarccoughs*

Yusho supports Yuya no matter which direction he chooses to take for himself, so at the very least Yuya doesn’t have to worry too much about pressure from expectations from his parents.

That leaves just his own expectations and what society expects from him as the only pressures affecting him constantly.

Well the problem is, Yusho isn’t there for most of the story to reassure him of this. To reassure him that there is no pressure on his part at all, something that Yuya, due to Yusho’s prolonged absence, isn’t entirely aware of.... (if you don’t believe me, recall Yuya’s painful breakdown in ep. 135 as proof... the poor boy apologizes to Yusho, even when he’s not there, thinking that Yusho would be disappointed or ashamed in him, even though we, the audience, know that he has nothing to apologize for).

Hell, we saw in the second duel Yuya had against Jack Atlas that it apparently took Yuya years and an intervention from Jack Atlas himself for him to realize what Yusho meant about “preserving his Yuya-ness” and not using his “borrowed words”. He wanted Yuya to find his own words instead.

The pendulum itself is a great symbol for this since it can represent two things: swaying between one thing to another, a.k.a. indecision or uncertainty (specifically, uncertainty in yourself) BUT it can also symbolize a tool for discovery, as Yusho has pointed out before in a different flashback— if Yuya ever gets lost, the Pendulum is there to guide him.

But the Pendulum only swings between two (2) extremes; in this case, since Yusho is gone and with him his expectations of Yuya (if any) as well, what’s left is that, for Yuya, the Pendulum swings between: his own expectations vs. society’s expectations.

We see several times that Yuya is always troubled between either to entertain people and make them happy or to fight to save the world, and of course striking a balance between the two isn’t quite as simple as just stopping the Pendulum in the middle of its tracks, especially not when there are other factors that are in the mix. Thus, we get Arc-V’s story and the conflicts Yuya faces throughout it.

Going backwards a bit, though, I also want to point out the sad irony that is carried by Yuya repeating the words “preserve my uniqueness...”

This should be a bit more straightforward for a couple of reasons (such as the fact that he isn’t the only Pendulum user anymore, or later on, as stated before, the fact that his entertainment style is based on his father’s “borrowed words”, etc.), but mainly because as the story progresses, we find out that Yuya isn’t quite so unique:

There are 3 other boys who look just like him. Granted, these 3 other boys might look like him, but they act nothing alike (thankfully). But, okay, then it’s revealed that they were once actually all one person.

I’ll repeat that and add onto it:

Yuya and these three other boys who look just like him are actually the same person, and, to top it all off, this person that they once all were (Zarc) had no Pendulum at the time, meaning he had no guidance, and, as a consequence, found himself succumbing to society’s expectations.

So given his ultimate background, how does Yuya, aka a fragment of someone’s soul, as Zarc likes to call him, “preserve his uniqueness...”?

Well, think of it this way: if you break a glass, you end up with fragments of that glass. And although you can gather the pieces and put them all back together to make it into the original whole again, you still have just fragments merged into a whole again. Each fragment has its own unique edges that make up its own unique shape, and I guarantee that none of the other fragments are quite the same, even if they’re all equally important to the whole.

It’s this uniqueness about him that Yusho wants Yuya to preserve, but that Yuya can’t see for himself. It’s why Yuya’s Pendulum is so necessary to him: it’s why when he lost it as a child, he cried, or why when Zarc finally takes over him and Yuya is lost to his darkness, his Pendulum falls to the floor— unswaying and directionless. And it’s why Zarc doesn’t even bother with it either— why would he since he already chose a path— just like he did the first time before Ray split him into four fragments. He said so himself: he made a vow back then to meet the expectations that society thrust upon him for more violent entertainment, and that vow remained unwavering even after his revival...

I suppose it’s, once again, ironic that Yuya doesn’t regain control over Zarc & himself until Reiji points out to Zarc, who denies being Yuya, that he is Yuya... but that he’s also always been Zarc. Always been swaying back and forth between his two extremes: Yuya, the entertainer who ultimately always seems to choose to live up to his own standards of what he believes Entertainment should really be for (which is to bring and protect smiles), and Zarc, the entertainer who lived solely for the purpose of meeting society’s expectations. 

And thus, the Pendulum guides Yuya back to his own heart again...

But what about the other three fragments: Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri? Are they even unique? What can make them unique?

Well of course they’re unique! The nuance here is that they’re parts of Zarc, as Yuya is as well, that make up Zarc’s whole HUMAN entertainer personality. 

Yuto was the part of Zarc that didn’t actually want to hurt anyone but did so because it was expected of him. Yugo was the competitive and obsessive part of Zarc that kept him motivated to continue his violent duels since it was expected of him. And, of course, Yuri was the psychotic, lost part of Zarc that led him to his ultimate endgame: fusing with his dragons to become an ultimate force of destruction, as was expected of him. Leo himself expected Yuri to be reliably unstoppable and used him (since he was a mere child, in fact), much like the Original Dimension’s society did, to meet his expectations of completing Arc-V (the machine).

But then we’re back again to question which part of Zarc Yuya made up. Well, it’s very simple:

Yuya was the part of Zarc that originally just wanted to make the people of the Original Dimension, his monsters, and his opponents smile.

THIS is the uniqueness that Yusho desired for Yuya to preserve about himself.

Yusho, despite the adversity and the reality about Yuya that inevitably presents itself before him...

...has absolute faith in Yuya.

That Yuya, as Yoko would say...

... will surpass Yusho Sakaki in that ability. Thus why Yusho would be at ease if he passed on, knowing that Yuya is still alive and well and would take on his role.

But again, we’re back to an expectation of Yuya. Neither Yoko nor Yusho actually care how he does it, they just know that Yuya will bring smiles to the world. Because they have that much faith in his uniqueness.

But it’s not a far-fetched expectation— Jack Atlas himself knows this is true of him. He knows it’s Yuya’s role to play in his life. That why he pushes Yuya to recognize that his father’s borrowed words about entertainment and smiles aren’t his true dueling, his Pendulum summoning is.

This is why Yusho never led his son into the path that Dennis eventually took as his protege: he had faith that Yuya would eventually found something completely UNIQUE of his own, just as he did, and SURPASS HIM.

The courage to take YOUR OWN step forward.

By the end of Arc V, we see Yusho recognizes this in Yuya, otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered challenging him head on (as he claimed previously within the last few episodes that if Yuya wasn’t able to save Reira, and to an extent the world’s, smiles, then he wouldn’t be a true duelist after all, but Yuya of course did).

In the end, Yuya himself has outgrown his own ambition of becoming like his dad, Yusho. He’s learned that his uniqueness due to his Pendulum has given him the unbound potential to surpass Yusho.

Zarc & Ray are born in the United World.

Zarc (just as Leo Akaba said he was) was just another duelist with the rare gift of being able to hear the voices of Duel Monsters spirits.

Leo Akaba creates the Real Solid Vision (RSV) system which gives Duel Monsters spirits vessels (aka real bodies) which exposes them (and duelists) to real harm.

RSV becomes popular within the Pro Duel world and Leo Akaba is praised for his work.

Zarc, now an entertainment duelist, wins his way up slowly thru the Pro Duel world since he’s able to communicate with his monsters, making it easy for him to both entertain and win duels.

As he makes his way up the ranks in the Pro Duelist leagues, he accidentally harms another duelist... but the crowd praises him for it. Being an entertainment duelist, Zarc is relieved to find the crowd is happy with this development even though he was worried at first.

Crowds push for this style of violent dueling from Zarc and he obliges since pleasing the crowd is his profession.

As this continues, Zarc is able to win duels and become the world champion. These kinds of duels, however, take a toll on Zarc’s dragons (and presumably Zarc himself too) since they put them in harm’s way. 

Being the only one that can hear their voice, the Four Heavenly Dragons ask Zarc to help them end their own abuse which was being caused by social pressure for more violent duels.

Wanting to help his dragons, as well as meet the expectations of society for more violent duels from him, Zarc becomes one with them. They(he) nearly annihilates the United World.

To combat Zarc, now known as the Supreme Dragon King Zarc, Leo Akaba creates four En cards with the powers of nature (flowers, the moon, winds, and birds) and plans to use them to defeat Zarc. 

Ray Akaba, his daughter, steals the cards from him before he can use them against Zarc.

Ray defeats Zarc in a duel and uses the four En cards to split Zarc and his dragons apart again and stop Supreme Dragon King Zarc. SDKZ is split into not only his four dragons, but also four human versions of himself. The En cards create Bracelets on Ray’s arm and their light splits up Ray as well as the United World into four humans and four new dimensions, respectively.

As Zarc is divided into four, the power swaying back and forth within him gives birth to Pendulum.

The world is reborn as four separate dimensions (based on the summoning methods of the Four Heavenly Dragons): Standard, Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion.

Leo Akaba wakes up in the Standard Dimension with no memories of his life in the United World.

Reiji Akaba is born.

Zarc’s reincarnations (Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri) as well as Ray’s reincarnations (Yuzu, Ruri, Rin, and Serena) are born in Standard, Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion dimensions, respectively. Each of Zarc’s counterparts have one of the Four Heavenly Dragons with them. Each of Ray’s counterparts have one of the four Bracelets that the En cards created. Zarc’s Standard counterpart, Yuya Sakaki, is also given the Pendulum that Zarc created.

Leo Akaba works with Yusho Sakaki, Yuya’s (adoptive) father, and recreates Real Solid Vision.

Leo Akaba founds and establishes the Leo Corporation.

Yusho Sakaki establishes You Show Duel School with Shuzou Hiiragi.

Leo Akaba begins to regain his memories of the United World. He investigates his own memories to find out why he knew how to make Real Solid Vision and remembers his daughter, Ray, as well as the events that occurred in the United World that lead to its destruction.

Leo Akaba abandons his family and Leo Corporation in search of signs of Ray. He travels between dimensions to do this. He finds Serena, who looks just like Ray and has one of the four En bracelets, in Fusion Dimension’s Academia.

Leo Akaba realizes that Ray, and by the same logic Zarc, were both split into four people living four separate lives in each of the four dimensions.

Leo Akaba brings Real Solid Vision with him and establishes himself as the new leader of Academia and works on a new machine, Arc-V, which will eventually recombine the four worlds as well as the four girls who were once one person, Ray.

Leo Akaba also finds one of Zarc’s counterparts in Fusion Dimension’s Academia, Yuri, who is still a young boy. He takes him under his wing and encourages his antisocial and violent behavior as he wants to use him to find the fragments of his daughter, Ray.

Jean Michel Roget is sent as a spy to the Synchro Dimension. He offers the technology of Real Solid Vision to the High Counsel of The City in exchange for a position as the Director of Security. He cuts ties with Academia and decides to stay instead in order to gain more power.

Reiji Akaba searches for his father and finds him in the Fusion Dimension. He meets Serena. Leo Akaba sends Reiji back to the Standard Dimension, who takes charge of Leo Corporation as the new CEO and establishes Leo Duel School (LDS).

Dennis McField is sent to the Xyz dimension to search for Ray’s Xyz dimension counterpart.

Reiji Akaba reaches out to Yusho Sakaki to help stop his father’s ambitious plans.

Three years prior to episode 1, Yusho Sakaki leaves the Standard Dimension in order to meet with Leo. However, Yusho is sent to the Xyz Dimension instead of Fusion. He teaches the people of Xyz Dimension his philosophy of Smiles Through Dueling. Notable students of his include Dennis McField, Kaito Tenjo, and Sayaka Sasayama (Ruri Kurosaki’s best friend). Sayaka passes along this philosophy to Ruri, who in turn passes it on to Zarc’s Xyz Dimension counterpart, Yuto.

Due to Yusho’s absence, Strong Ishijima becomes the new Duel Champion in Standard by default.

Leo Akaba orders the invasion of the Xyz Dimension for two reasons: to gather large amounts of life energy (in the form of people turned into cards by Academia soldiers) to power Arc-V, and to kidnap Ruri Kurosaki who is found to be Ray’s Xyz dimension counterpart. This marks the very beginning of the Interdimensional War.

The Xyz dimension’s Heartland City is torn apart and destroyed by Academia soldiers armed with RSV capable duel disks. The majority of its citizens are turned into cards to serve as fuel for Arc-V. The remaining duelists in Heartland City form a Resistance to fight back against Academia soldiers.

Rin, Ray’s Synchro dimension counterpart, is kidnapped successfully by Yuri and taken to Academia soon after. She is kidnapped in front of her childhood friend Yugo, who is Zarc’s Synchro dimension counterpart. Yugo’s Clear Wing Synchro Dragon teleports him to the Xyz dimension where he fights Yuto, thinking that he is Yuri, the one who kidnapped Rin. Their duel is interrupted by Resistance reinforcements.

Ruri Kurosaki is kidnapped successfully by Yuri and taken to Academia thanks to intel from Dennis.

Shun Kurosaki, Ruri’s older brother, and Yuto interrogate a defeated Academia soldier who reveals to them that the world is divided into four dimensions and that Leo Akaba is the one who ordered the invasion on the Xyz dimension with the goal of uniting the four dimensions into one.

Yusho Sakaki has a duel with Edo Phoenix, the commander-in-chief of the Academia’s army in the Xyz dimension. Yusho is injured during the duel but defeats Edo and gifts him a copy of Smile World. Edo Phoenix rejects it and tears it in half. Yusho keeps half of the torn Smile World and is sent to the Fusion dimension where he eventually establishes another You Show Duel School which serves as a refugee school for Academia deserters. Meanwhile, Edo keeps the other half of the torn Smile World card and searches for Yusho for a rematch.

Shun interrogates another Academia soldier who tells him about the existence of Reiji Akaba, Leo’s son, in the Standard dimension.

Shun sets out for the Standard dimension with the plan of kidnapping Reiji and using him as a hostage to bargain for his sister, Ruri.

Yuto follows after Shun to the Standard dimension.

(Episode 1):

A Strong Ishijima fan appreciation duel event is organized by LDS. His opponent is Yuya Sakaki.

During the duel, Yuya’s desire to win awakens Zarc’s soul within the Pendulum. Pendulum cards and Pendulum summoning are created.

Woo... I believe that’s about everything in terms of what happened before episode 1. 

As for what went wrong? The root of the problem is arguably Leo Akaba’s creation of Real Solid Vision. Without it, Zarc would have most likely just lived life as just another duelist since there would be 1) nothing to threaten or abuse the Four Heavenly Dragons and other monsters and 2) no social desire or pressue for Zarc to conduct extremely violent duels since real harm would be very unlikely.

I just want to make a call back to GX real quick since it gave us 3+ duelists who, like Zarc, could hear and communicate with duel monsters. In GX’s world, Solid Vision wasn’t advanced enough for Duel Monsters spirits to be practically real and to harm one another and feel harm. Thus, there was no reason for Duel Monsters to seek help from humans who could communicate with them to end their abuse or suffering the way Zarc’s Dragon’s did. The only instance we did see this true in GX was Yubel who was launched into space... and who felt real pain due to the power of the cosmos (one of the En cards, En Moon, is powered by the cosmos). Because of this, Yubel was also corrupted by a mix of hatred and anger towards all humans except for Juudai who had promised them that he would love them and protect them forever. 

Much like (I’m sure) Zarc communicated with his Dragons and promised them he would satisfy their lust for revenge against the humans who harmed them (especially since he was convinced this would also satisfy human’s lust for violence).

Let’s look at pendulumshipping first. Yuya and Reiji get together. I think the first thing we’d have to ask is, what do the other counterparts think about Reiji in general? Yugo would likely be neutral to him; but Yuto and Yuri know him foremost as Leo Akaba’s son. I’m sure that Yuto’s gotten past his grudge against Leo and recognizes everything Reiji did to end the war, but considering everything that happened, I don’t know if the same thing can be said for Yuri.

I mean, I really don’t. No one does, and we can never truly know, because our glimpse at reformed!Yuri was so brief. Based strictly on what we know for sure… Yuri just about turned on the Professor during his duel against Asuka. He literally said that he wanted to card everyone in existence until he was the only one left, so that mass death warrant obviously included Leo. So whatever semblance of sentimentality he had for Leo—the one person who paid him any mind, his father figure—was done away with because of Zarc’s influence. 

And then after Zarc was exorcised from them? Yuri likely saw all the evil that Leo did with a clarity he never had before. So we can assume he realized what Leo did was wrong, and the he was used as a living weapon. He may have also realized that  Zarc was only able to influence him so strongly was because Leo encouraged his negative qualities, and kept him from his (plutonic/romantic/whatever) soulmate, Serena. So this may breed a grudge, one that may extend to Reiji.

And there, have Yugo (neutral), Yuto (likely pro), and Yuri (likely anti). 

Moving onto the girls, what do the other counterparts think of Masumi? Ruri and Rin never met her themselves, so they would likely be neutral. Serena also never met her in person, but is connected to her in an oft forgotten way…

Serena carded Hokuto, one of Masumi’s best friends. 

We can assume that Serena would be able to see things from Yuzu’s perspective. So she would see Yuzu getting together with Masumi, and likely think nothing of Masumi herself. But say, if Yuzu hangs out with the LDS trio as a group, and Serena recognizes Hokuto, remembers that she carded him? And/or if she overhears Masumi talking about how much she missed her friend? She would feel guilty, which would probably make her more actively amenable to the idea of Yuzu and Masumi being together. 

So we’d have Ruri (neutral), Rin (neutral), and Serena (pro, if only out of guilt). 

Now, this only relates to how the counterparts feel towards Reiji and Masumi, not how they’d feel over Yuya and Yuzu not getting together. I think several factors would play into that, too.

I think everyone would be fine with it at first, even Yuri (I don’t think he’d risk alienating the other counterparts, because above all else he doesn’t want to be alone anymore). So it’s fine if Yuya goes on a date with Reiji to the local carnival, or if Yuzu and Masumi go to a concert together. Yuzu wants to go eat breakfast at Masumi’s house instead of Yuya’s? Sure, fine. Yuya starts spending his free time in Reiji’s office as opposed to YSDS? No big deal. As long as things stay casual, I don’t think the counterparts would make much of a fuss.

But if things get serious? Like, if Yuzu formally introduces Masumi to Shuzou, or Yuya (who is now a pro duelist) announcing his relationship with Reiji publicly? Then that would naturally make the other counterparts worry, because the more time Yuya and Yuzu spend with their formidable others, the less time they’re spending with each other. And that means that Yuto isn’t seeing Ruri, Yugo isn’t seeing Rin, and Yuri and Serena are drifting back to square one. 

Yuto and Serena probably take a more wait-and-see approach (because they’re more favorable to Reiji and Masumi as people). Yugo, Ruri and Rin would be more vocal about their concerns, and knowing Yuri… he probably does his best to sow seeds of doubt into Yuya’s head about Reiji (such as reminding him of all the shit Reiji’s willing to pull for the sake of keikaku, that sort of thing).

Assuming none of this works, and years pass, and things become even more serious? Like Yuzu and Masumi move in together in an apartment across town, or Yuya and Reiji are traveling for extended periods of time together? 

Then yes, there is rioting.

Yes, there are hostile takeovers.

Yuri!Yuya would totally shred all of Reiji’s most important documents. Serena!Yuzu would shamelessly sell all of Masumi’s most prized jewels, and spend the proceeds on cat stickers she’d cover the walls in.

Does Rin!Yuzu chew Masumi out for mild infractions, mom-style? You bet your ass she does. Would Yugo!Yuya run over Reiji with his bike? I doubt he’d be successful, but he’d sure as hell try.

And when Masumi calls “Yuzu” out on this behavior, you think Ruri!Yuzu would give her an inch? She’d gaslight Masumi so fast, but she’d do it badly, on purpose, specifically so that Masumi notices it. And Yuto!Yuya does much the same, playing long-winded mind games with the King of Mind Games himself, to try to convince him that that this behavior is completely normal.

This is all done in an effort to have Reiji/Masumi initiate a break up, because they know Yuya/Yuzu would never do it. What they don’t realize is that all this behavior is so insanely OOC that Masumi and Reiji knew it was the counterparts from the start. 

To fix this they get together and talk it out amongst themselves. They rightfully come to the conclusion that things are never going to go back to normal, so long as Yuya and Yuzu are only spending a nominal amount of time together. But they love their formidable others too much to let them go entirely, nor would breaking up be fair to Yuya or Yuzu. 

So they come up with a compromise, one that Yuya and Yuzu readily agree to.

The four (really ten) of them move in together. Reiji begins to make a conscious effort to get to know, and eventually sort of date, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri. Masumi does the same with Serena, Ruri and Rin. 

They hold joint weddings, on in which the counterparts are acknowledged. They travel together. They help raise each others kids. 

Is it a messy arrangement? Yes, it can get very messy. But Yuya and Yuzu are in close proximity, so the counterparts can be together, allowing peace to be maintained. Besides, Yuya and Yuzu are always happiest when they’re together. And what Masumi and Reiji want, above all else, is for their spouses to be happy.