Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal/Characters
The Protagonists
Yuma Tsukumo
Voiced by: Tasuku Hatanaka (JP), Eli Jay (EN)
The protagonist of the series, Yuma is a fourteen year-old middle-schooler living in the city of Heartland. Despite, or because of, his energetic, peppy personality he's known amongst his peers as a screw-up who can't do anything right, whether it be at school or at Duel Monsters.
He possesses a pendant called the Emperor's Key, which turns out to be the key to unlocking a gate to another dimension, releasing the spirit Astral and the ninety-nine Numbers cards. With his own Numbers ace, No. 39: Utopia (a.k.a. Aspiring Emperor Hope), Yuma and Astral must track down and collect the remaining Numbers cards.
- Butt Monkey
- Catch Phrase: Kattobingu!
- Dub catchphrase: "Feeling the flow!", used less often.
- Chained by Fashion: His Gagaga monsters.
- Cooldown Hug: Delivers one to Haruto.
- The Determinator
- Dumb Is Good
- Forgetful Jones: Yuma. He forgot his invitation to the WDC Finals party and forgot the Heart Pieces he spent a whole arc collecting when he went to the Finals.
- Fusion Dance: Can do so with Astral under extreme circumstances.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power
- The Hero
- Heroic BSOD: After his first encounter and near-loss to Kaito, Yuma utterly breaks down in the rain in front of Kotori, realizing he isn't good enough even doing a Skyward Scream.
- Skyward Scream
- Also in his duel with III, where it's revealed that without the word "kattobingu," Yuma is terribly depressed and afraid of dueling and taking on challenges in general.
- Honor Before Reason: Averted in his second Duel with Shark, where despite promising not to use the Numbers, summons Hope anyway, after Shark urges him to. Though given the reaction of his friends, it would seem that usually Yuma does play the trope straight.
- Hot-Blooded
- The Hunter: Despite his denial of such a title, Yuma is very much a Numbers Hunter.
- Hypocrite: Rare protagonist example, at in the dubbed version. Freely claims that teamwork is the point of xyz monsters; even though he himself doesn't accept external help.
- Idiot Hero: To the point where Astral often Lampshades his dueling misplays.
- He's actually closer to Jounouchi than he is to Yugi, both as a beginner and in his general personality.
- Japanese Delinquents: His Gagaga monsters have this as their theme.
- Kid Hero
- Leeroy Jenkins: What his dueling style, at least to start out with, tends to lean towards without Astral's help.
- The McCoy
- Multicolored Hair: Red and black.
- Oblivious to Love
- Power Copying: Yuma can use any Numbers which he has defeated and Astral has absorbed, making his Deck expand with each victory. However, he uses very few of them, and his defaulted back to only using Hope.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Astral's blue.
- The Rival: To several people. Will definitely gain several more rivals before this series is over.
- Shonen Upgrade: He manages to set a new record among the protagonists for the fastest gained canon upgrade to an ace monster with Chaos Numbers 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope Ray. He got one three times faster than Yusei.
- Stepford Smiler: Take into account the gravity of the word "kattobingu" to him and he slips right into type A.
- The Unintelligible: Kattobingu! There is no real translation for it. It is merely just a phrase Kazuki Takahashi came up with for Yuma when he created the character. "Katto" literally means "to flare up" ("bingu" is merely the Japanese spelling of the English word "bing").
- Weak but Skilled: So far, only his xyz monsters are truly powerful in terms of ATK, so he compensates by having various powerful card effects, if he uses them correctly.
Astral
Voiced by: Miyu Irino (JP), Marc Thompson (EN)
A spirit being from another dimension who meets Yuma after he unlocks a dimensional gate. With no memory of who he is, Astral and Yuma must collect the ninety-nine Numbers monsters to reconstruct his memory. While living with Yuma he tends to make observations regarding daily human life, and possesses great insight into Duel Monsters. As only Yuma can see him, most others tend to think Yuma's going crazy whenever he bickers with him.
- Aliens Steal Cable
- Batman Gambit: Taking down the math teacher by knowing that he was obsessed with perfection and so would act to restore his LP to 4000 even though doing so was unnecessary. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain ensues.
- Fusion Dance: With Yuma.
- Heroic BSOD: The same as Yuma after their near-loss to Kaito.
- Human Alien
- The Lancer
- Oh Crap: When Kaito uses Photon Cerberus to prevent the Trap Card which forms Yuma's last defense from activating, Astral freezes up completely.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Yuma's red.
- Spider Sense: Gets a 'bad feeling' when Kaito is nearby in Episode 13.
- The Spock
- The Stoic
- Stop Helping Me!: Yuma doesn't take too kindly to Astral trying to take control of his duels, though eventually he starts to realize that he's the main reason he's started winning in the first place.
Kotori Mizuki (Tori Meadows)
Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (JP), Eileen Stevens (EN)
A friend of Yuma's. She's much more sensible and down-to-earth than he is, so as a result she tends to have to constantly nanny him.
- The Chick
- Magic Skirt: Her casual wear isn't as bad, but her school uniform's incredibly short.
- Ms. Fanservice. She is the most prominently featured female character and her outifts change quite often.
- Multicolored Hair: Two shades of green.
- Only Sane Man
- Panty Shot: Averted, most blatantly in Episode 13.
- The Smart Girl: Shows more than enough tech knowledge to qualify as this.
- The Watson: When Duel Monsters is involved, allowing any of the more duel-savvy characters such as Tetsuo to explain the rules to her (and the audience).
Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro (Reginald "Shark" Castle)
Voiced by: Toshiki Masuda (JP), Gary Mack (EN)
Known as the number one bully at Yuma's school, Shark is a duelist who once played at the national level, though since then has seemingly given up on that. Due to his skills, at first he is arrogant and merciless to his opponents, defeating Tetsuo and taking his deck through the ante rule and crushing Yuma's pendant, but upon being defeated by Yuma he shows that he does have some sense of honor by returning the deck without protest, and Yuma believes that one day they'll be friends.
During his first duel with Yuma his ace monster is No. 17: Leviathan Dragon, and afterwards he switches to Black Ray Lancer. After his duel with III he gains possession of No. 32: Marine Biting Dragon - Shark Drake. During his duel with IV, he is able to use Chaos Xyz Change, evolving Shark Drake in Chaos Number 32: Shark Drake Vice.
- Badass Normal: He's shown to be an excellent duelist even when he doesn't have a Numbers card and is able to hold his own against Kaito even if he loses.
- Badass Abnormal: With Number 17: Leviathan Dragon and Number 32: Shark Drake and Chaos Number 32: Shark Drake Vice
- Curb Stomp Battle: Does this Tetsuo in episode 1 and Yuma in episode 10.
- The Corruption: Shark Drake's effect on him. Just like Tron planned.
- Achilles' Heel: Seems like Yuma is this to Shark Drake's effect on Ryoga.
- Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Starting from his nickname, shark monsters such as Jawsman and Aero Shark make up the main component of his sea deck.
- Then you get something weirder like the Sharktopus, a Biological Mashup of a shark and octopus.
- Up to Eleven with Shark Drake. And Beyond the Impossible with Shark Drake Vice
- Fire-Forged Friends: He starts respecting Yuma and being friendly towards him, though not a member of Yuma's group by his own choice, after their tag match.
- The Power of Friendship: Which he uses to resist Number 32's mind control.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Non-romantic example, towards Yuma as he excessively tries to push the latter away as to make sure that he doesn't end up hurt by IV.
- Jerkass: He starts out as this at the beginning of the series but after Yuma defeats him, he begins to become more humble.
- Kick the Dog: Upon their first meeting he steals Yuma's pendant and crushes it, saying that he obviously didn't care for it much if he couldn't protect it. Good thing Yuma's rather forgiving.
- Large Ham: Once a duel begins he starts chewing scenery like there's no tomorrow.
- Making a Splash: His Deck is primarily Water-Attribute monsters and support cards.
- Multicolored Hair: Purple and pale blue.
- Old Shame: Used to be a championship-level duelist, but he cheated by looking at his opponent's Deck pre-match and was disqualified from the championship. He went downhill after this.
- Seems to think a bit of this about crushing Yuma's key, and in return tries to keep it safe from Kaito. It doesn't end well.
- The Rival: With IV
- The Stoic: Outside of duels
- Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers: Inverted, actually. Shark can bypass the usual "Numbers can only be destroyed by Numbers" rule with his Black Ray Lancer, which is able to negate the effects of other monsters, including that one. After that, any monster strong enough can crush a Numbers monster. Black Ray Lancer is just a normal Xyz Monster though.
- Super Mode: For Shark Drake, Chaos Number 32: Shark Drake Vice
- Too Soon: His Poseidon Wave card was changed to Zeus Breath following the Sendai Earthquake.
- Worthy Opponent: Considers Yuma to be this eventually.
- Your Soul Is Mine: Lost his soul after losing against Kaito in Episode 22. He got better, thanks to Yuma.
Kaito Tenjo (Kite)
Voiced by: Kouki Uchiyama (JP), Marc Diraison (EN)
A 'Numbers Hunter', Kaito is hunting down and capturing Numbers monsters to try and help his brother, Haruto, who allegedly can only have his strange disease cured if all one-hundred Numbers are gathered.
His Deck theme is the 'Photon' cards, with his ace being Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. In addition, he also possesses twelve Numbers, four of which are known: No. 10: White Knight Illuminator, No. 20: Gig-Anto Brilli-Ant, No. 30: Acid Golem of Destruction, and No. 56: Goldrat. As of Episode 43, he now holds the current strongest Xyz monster in the game, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon.
- Anti-Villain: Aside from his sympathetic motivation, Kaito tries to keep the fact that those who lose to him will have their souls taken a secret, and even commends Yuma on his spirit.
- Badass Boast: Gets one in his Rank 7 appearance before beating down a gun-wielding thug:
Kaito: I am the light that illuminates the darkness stagnating people's hearts.
- Badass Longcoat: Black most of the time, but it turns into a Kaiba and Jack-esque white one when he Duels due to his Photon Change.
- Broken Bird: Harutos illness really made him cynical
- Berserk Button: Hurt Haruto, and he will crush you.
- Big Brother Instinct: His motivation is healing his younger brother Haruto, to the point he cancels a Duel with Yuma he was about to win when he finds out that Haruto has collapsed.
- Even better in the tag duel with him teaming with Yuma against III and IV. His Big Brother Instinct and bond with Haruto manifests itself as the strongest Xyz monster in the game.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: No. 20: Gig-Anto Brilli-Ant
- Big Damn Heroes: He stopped the airship from crashing with only himself piloting it and Orbital 7 pushing against it.
- Conspicuous CG: Inverted; No.30: Acid Golem of Destruction
- Expy: Kaito looks pretty similar to Paradox, to the point of fans referring to him as 'Kid Paradox' and both have traveled from other points in time/space to try and avert something which brings destruction to their homes. As is typical for YGO rivals, Kaito is also to a degree an Expy of Kaiba with a 3000 point ace dragon and a similar white coat.
- Both also share similar motive in their quest: to rescue their brother.
- And to do that he take Tetsuo hostage, making similarity with Pegasus. Yes he is at least an expy of 3 characters.
- Make that four - His Photon Mode also makes him look like Jack Atlas of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
- Genius Bruiser: The equivalent, his Deck hits very hard due to its ability to rapidly summon Numbers and Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, but Kaito is a very good player noted to be more skilled than Astral, to the point he even takes into account the fact his Galaxy-Eyes can't destroy Numbers by using his Photon Wind card to capitalize.
- Genre Savvy: He is smart enough to neutralize the threat of a face-down card rather than charging in, knowing full well that it would more-than-likely screw him over:
Kaito: Did you really think I would attack carelessly when there is a face-down card on your field?
- The Hunter: Numbers Hunter
- Improbable Age: Despite looking no older than Shark (who is 14), Kaito is 18.
- Light Is Not Good: His 'Photon' cards are either Light-Attribute monsters or support Light-Attribute monsters, but he's at best a Well-Intentioned Extremist. And his above Badass Boast more-or-less cements it. Also, his dueling attire is white.
- Man in White: Only when he Duels, due to his 'Duel Mode Photon Change', which aside from just screaming Light Is Not Good, may be what prevents him from being corrupted by the Numbers.
- Man of Kryptonite: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is designed to take down Xyz monsters even going by its real-life profile, where it can remove itself and the monster it battles from play and return both to the field later. Due to the way Xyz Monsters work, this removes their Xyz Material Monsters, leaving them without the ability to activate their effects which need them to give up an Xyz Material. To add insult to injury, Galaxy-Eyes gains 500 ATK for each Xyz Material the other removed monster had when they jumped out of play. If it takes out an Xyz with five materials, this makes it stronger than F.G.D, one of the two strongest monsters in the game. God only knows how Galaxy-Eyes will be souped up for the anime (given that Zexal-era cards tend to be Nerfed to the extreme...)
- As shown by latest episode, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is a subversion. While the effect is the same, you can't normal summon it normally, and you can't just send it to the graveyard to simply summon it with other card's effect.
- Mega Manning: Like Yuma, he adds the Numbers he defeats to his Deck.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon
- Mismatched Eyes: When he duels, one of his eyes turns crimson.
- Morality Pet: His brother, Haruto
- Eucatastrophe: He almost beat Yuma, literally declaring a winning attack with Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, but called off the Duel after discovering that Haruto had collapsed.
- Pet the Dog: It's heartwarming to see Kaito with his brother, to say the least:
Kaito: You're just dreaming... a bad dream...
- The Rival: Both to Yuma AND Astral. But he considers Astral to be his true rival, whereas Yuma is just an idiot.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: No.56: Goldrat
- Shout-Out: His Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is a Call Back to Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon in Duel Monsters, with a similar name theme, appearance and the same stats (3000 ATK/2500 DEF).
- Also, his ability to change his clothes to white and apparently duel without a D-Gazer is called Duel Mode Photon Change. Is Kaito a displaced 5D's character missing a D-Wheel?
- His first appearance features him diving off a skyscraper, opening glider wings and smashing through glass to enter a building. Hm...
- In one scene, he calls his Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon "Ore no tamashii" ("My soul" in English). That's what Jack Atlas called his Red Demon's Dragon in the Japanese version of 5D's.
- And his Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is an Expy of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
- Super Mode: In Episode 43 he Turns Red and gets the power to summon Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. Neo Galaxy-Eyes itself counts as one for Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: From what's been released about him, it would seem he's this.
- White Knight: It's in the name: "No. 10 White Knight Illuminator", though the CGI makes it look like it's a knight on a Hellish Horse.
- Your Soul Is Mine: A side-effect of his Numbers collecting "Photon Hand" is taking the opponent's soul. Though, unusually, Kaito seems to have a problem with taking his opponents' souls.
Friends at School
Tetsuo Takeda (Bronk Stone)
Voiced by: Makoto Shimada (JP), Sean Schemmel (EN)
Another one of Yuma's friends. He can be quite competitive and often finds humor in others' failings, particular with Yuma, but he generally tends to be on Yuma's side. He uses a Clockwork Deck with his Ace Monster being Clockwork Shikigami
- Acrofatic: Can ride a skateboard at ludicrous speed and deliver a powerful jumping uppercut to a giant robot.
- The Big Guy
- Clockwork Creature: His deck is themed after toys made of clockwork.
- Genius Bruiser: For the show's standards anyway. Tetsuo is a big guy, but as episode 20 shows us he is a very capable duelist.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Comes off as a bit of a dick at first, but is revealed to have a good side.
- Nice Hat: A red baseball cap always turned backwards.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Yuma.
Cathy (Cathy Catherine)
Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi (JP), Bella Hudson (EN)
A shy girl in Yumas class who has a crush on him. Eventually joins the group after he starts paying attention to her after they duel. Uses a cat themed deck.
- Actor Allusion: A huge one to Ayame Sarutobi, both voiced by Yu Kobayashi. Not only both characters are very similar, in Episode 51, she even mimics frame by frame Sarutobi's Roof Hopping from Gintama's 5th opening.
- The Beast Master: She can command a legion of cats to do her bidding.
- Catgirl: Technically those are cat ears-shaped hair.
- Classy Cat Burglar
- Crazy Cat Lady: Not as crazy as other examples, but she's still up there.
- Gothic Lolita: Her dueling outfit.
- Graceful Loser: Towards Dog-chan.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover
- Meganekko
- Not Brainwashed: She wasn't stalking Yuma because she was brainwashed, she just wanted his attention.
- Shrinking Violet: Is incredibly shy and soft-spoken normally.
- Spy Catsuit
- Stalker with a Crush
- Super Speed
Rio Kamishiro (Rio Kastle)
Voiced by: Megumi Han (JP), Alyson Leigh Rosenfiled(EN)
Sharks little twin sister and a genius duelist.Before the series Rio dueled IV and she was seriously injured ad hospitalized which made shark cynical and enraged revenge on IV.In the second series she completely recovers from her injuries and enrolls to Yumas school as 2nd year student.Rio is later reveled to be Merge along with Shark who is Nasch with both of them being a missing member of seven barian empores after learning about their true self they then decided to embrace their past life and leave Yumas group.Rio fights with a Penguin deck. Her Xyz monsters focus on "freezing" the field and cutting off the opponent's resources.
- The Ace:She is very good in everything and is also a skilled duelist like her brother
- Action Girl/Badass:She is the only female character in the show who is badass
- Ambiguously Human: Has been shown to have a power that allows to her sense Barians, as well as entering trancelike states that let her know when they're coming. Then we learn that she herself is a Barian.
- An Ice Person: Uses ice monsters.
- Ascended Extra: Initially, she was just a part of Shark's backstory and only appeared on-screen bandaged up in the hospital. Come ZEXAL II, she becomes a lot more prominent.
- Badass in Distress: In Episode 114 due to being infected by Kurage's jellyfish poison.
- Berserk Button:Dont call her Sharks sister
- Cool Big Sis: Acts this to Kotori in dueling
- Cynicism Catalyst: Though alive, her injuries produce the same motivation for Shark.
- Dark Action Girl: She becomes this one once she joins the barians
- FaceāHeel Turn: After regaining her memories as Merag, she defects from the heroes and joins the rest of the Barian Emperors to protect her people.
- The Faceless: Until ZEXAL II, she was always shown in the hospital, covered in bandages.
- Hello, Nurse!: Most of the school's male students instantly start swooning over her, including Tetsuo.
- Ill Girl: Stuck in the hospital, she is this way after receiving extensive burns from a duel with IV, who was actually doing it on Tron's orders.
- Ms. Fanservice: Episode 81 had a "beach volleyball duel" that was a well-crafted excuse to put her in a bikini.
- Not Brainwashed: Both she and Shark willingly abandon their human lives to make up for the mistakes of their past lives. She defeats Tetsuo and continues to stand by Barian World even after he succeeded in reminding her of her human self.
- She's Got Legs: The first shot of her return to school is a close-up shot of her bare thighs.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female Barian Emperor after transforming back into Merag.
- That Man Is Dead: After returning to her identity as Merag, she tells Tetsuo "there is no Rio anymore".
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Her hair is blue, though with a lighter shade of blue in her bangs.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Grade A in her school uniform, Grade B in her casual outfit.
Takashi Todoroki (Caswell)
Voiced by: Taishi Murata (JP), Jason Griffith (EN)
The class president and another one of Yuma's friends
- Catch Phrase: "To sum it up..." The dub renders this as "In the end..."
- Manipulative Bastard: Played for Laughs when he blackmails Ukyo, one of his own teachers, into helping them find Yuma's key.
- The Smart Guy
Tokunosuke Omoteura (Flip)
Voiced by: Aki Kaneda (JP), Matt Hoverman (EN)
A clever if somewhat creepy boy who used trickery and cheating when dueling his opponents and belived everyone was a bad person underneath. Yuma defeated him and proved otherwise, and the two became friends in the process.
- Defeat Means Friendship
- Easily Forgiven
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Baby Tiragon he snuck into Yuma's deck ends up allowing Yuma to win.
- Expy: Of Insector Haga, both in appearance and in tactics (sneaking your opponent a card just to cheat them)
- Freudian Excuse: When he was younger, a bunch of kids cheated him out of his cards, breaking his faith in others and convincing him to resort to cheating to win.
- Heel Face Turn
- The Smart Guy
- Verbal Tic: "-ura."
Ukyo Kitano (Mr Kay)
Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (JP), Darren Dunstan (EN)
The adviser of the protagonists' class and a teacher in their school. A kind hearted man that has a "small" hobby in hacking.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: By No. 34: Terror-Byte.
- Playful Hacker/The Cracker: His normal behavior and his Numbers-possessed behavior.
- The Perfectionist: What he was like when he was controlled by Terror-Byte.
- The Smart Guy
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Seriously, he never had any evil motive. He was just trying to complete a city-wide AR circuit through hacking!
Anna Kozuki
- Bokukko: Although she actually uses the male-only "ore".
- BFG
- Boobs of Steel
- Charles Atlas Superpower
- Cute Bruiser
- Cool Train/Siege Engines: Her entire deck is centered around them. Her ace card is the culmination of the two: the utterly ridiculous Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustav Max, a rank 10 Xyz requiring two level 10 monsters.
- Forgotten Childhood Friend
- Mistaken Identity: The reason Yuma doesn't remember her is because she isn't a childhood friend. Anna was mistaking him for someone named Tsukune Yuya.
- For Massive Damage: She aims to do as much damage as possible with either high attack or effect damage but she often tries to inflict more damage than necessary.
- Gainaxing
- Genki Girl
- Glass Cannon: Her dueling style as Astral notes. She has easy to summon monsters with insane attack including one that rivals Five God Dragon but they often require high costs to maintain or lock down her own spells/traps so they have virtually no protection in case something goes awry.
- The Gunslinger
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Witness
- Small Girl, Big Gun
- Swiss Army Weapon: A cannon that can turn into a flying machine. How about that?
- Tsundere: A sterling example of one.
- Woman Scorned: Thankfully she's also a tsundere.
Tsukumo Household
Akari Tsukumo (Kari Tsukumo)
Voiced by: Nami Miyahara (JP), Rebecca Soler (EN)
- Cool Big Sis
- Cool Bike: An old, gas-engine motorcycle. Inherited from her father.
- Hot Scoop
- Tsundere: Towards Charlie.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Charlie. She lets him kiss her, but she always slaps him afterwards.
Mirai Tsukumo (Mira Tsukumo)
Kazuma Tsukumo
- Disappeared Dad
- Hot Dad
- Mysterious Parent: For now its confirmed he has connections with both Tron and Dr. Faker.
Haru Tsukumo
Obomi (Lilybot)
- Robot Buddy: Towards Yuma and his friends.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Considering the things Yuma was willing to do for her...
Tron Family
The Tron Family are a 4 Family member group obsessed with attaining revenge on Dr. Faker. What the root of this revenge is has not been revealed yet, though based on the technology they use it seems they once worked for him much like Kaito does now.
All of them share the following tropes:
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Tron is sanguine, III is phlegmatic, IV is choleric and V is melancholic.
- Power Tattoo: The tattoos on their hands/foreheads prevents Kaito or Astral from taking their Numbers from them.
- Revenge
Tron Byron Arklight
Number 8: Heraldic King Genome Heriter
- Big Bad: A serious contender at the very least.
- The Chessmaster
- Creepy Child
- Enfant Terrible
- Fountain of Youth: He's actually the father of III, IV, and V who was left with the body of a child due to Dr. Faker
- Mask of Power: Even reflected by Genome Heriter. When it uses its power to 'become' another monster, the only part of its regular form which remains is its mask.
- Mega Manning: Genome Heriter's power allows it to take the form and name of another monster, while leaving that monster nameless.
- Mind Rape: To Droite in Episode 54 by taking her memories of Kaito
- Obfuscating Stupidity: That laughing joke of a kid with a mask? Watch him absolutely massacre Droite once he gets serious.
- Sigil Spam: His Crest.
- Sphere of Destruction
III
No. 33: OOPArts Super Weapon - Machu Mach, No. 6: OOPArts Atlanthal, and the former owner of No. 32: Marine Biting Dragon - Shark Drake
- Cute Shotaro Boy
- Evil Costume Switch: To a gladiator during his duel with Yuma.
- Face Heel Turn: Certainly wasn't a good guy to begin with, but having dinner with the protagonist and his family and trying to kill him directly after probably qualifies III for this.
- Friendly Enemy: With Yuma.
- Shout-Out: He looks like a Spear Counterpart of Euphemia li Britannia
- Sacrificial Lion: The first major duelist to be beridden and put out of commission due to abuse of the immense power of the Numbers.
- Token Good Teammate: III is far more friendly and kind then his brothers, at least at first.
IV
No. 15: Gimmick Puppet - Giant Killer & No. 40: Gimmick Puppet - Heaven's Strings
- Ax Crazy: Begins to lose it somewhat during his duel with Shark. Mostly attributed to Tron screwing with him during the duel.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While around fans, he pretends to be a friendly and noble person, but to those who know him, he's an evil manipulative jerk who enjoys others' pain.
- Freudian Excuse: Like all Tron Siblings, he had suffered quite a bit thanks to Dr Faker's betrayal. It's implied during the Tag Duel with III that this is why IV insists on making other people suffer.
- Hidden Depths: With all of the vague Foreshadowing, one would be surprised if his character didn't take this turn.
- The Hunter: Numbers Hunter. He collected most of the Numbers they're currently using.
- Jerkass
- Kick the Dog: Even after defeating Tetsuo & Takashi with a One Turn Kill, he still attacks them with Giant Killer, hurting them even more.
- Man in White: IV's standard clothing in the series. He has worn different outfits in the past, however.
- Manipulative Bastard: Organized Shark's fall from grace. Also suggested that he was the one responsible for the hospitalization of an important family member.
- Subverted. Tron was effectively the one that organized everything, while IV simply followed orders. In fact, IV did not even intend to hurt Shark's sister - It was actually Tron's intervention that caused it. IV had used a card that was given to him by Tron, but he was unaware that it had the capability of inflicting real damage. As a result, IV had unintentionally hurt Shark's sister, and IV even went out of his way to save her from the resultant fire (That was caused by the card) once it started.
- Marionette Master: His deck.
- Middle Child Syndrome
- Pet the Dog: Despite usually being a complete sadist, he seems to genuinely care about his family a great deal. In fact, IV showed the most concern out of the Tron Siblings when III was defeated by Yuma. In addition, when Tron openly called III and IV disappointments, IV's first reaction was to stand up for III, and he did not even bother trying to defend himself.
- The Rival: Of Shark.
- The Unfavorite: Tron trusts III and V a lot more than IV due to his recklessness and anger issues.
- Say My Name: THHHRRREEEEEE! When Kaito beats III with Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon.
- Slasher Smile: He along with Shark and Kaito.
- Stepford Smiler: Type C, a face with which he shows the world.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Is the most willing and will go the furthest to please Tron. He is also the least appreciated by Tron.
V Chris Arklight
No. 9: Dyson Sphere
- Bishonen
- Expy: Of Harald from Yugioh 5D's.
- Hot-Blooded: When he Duels
- Kill Sat: Dyson Sphere is a gigantic one.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: Gets VERY angry when Yuma inflicts a mere 400 damage to him when he had 5000 Life Points.
- Mr. Exposition: Delivers an Info Dump on the backstory of Tron, Faker and Yuma's father before losing a Duel and falling unconscious.
- The Stoic: His usual disposition.
- Not So Stoic: When he found out what Dr. Faker did to his father.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy / You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Dr. Faker Faction
Haruto Tenjo (Hart)
Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei (JP)
Kaito's brother who's ill of a strange disease which apparently can only be cured if Kaito gathers the Numbers monsters.
- Creepy Child: Before he even appeared, fans were calling him 'Creepy Moon Child' for his appearance in the opening. When he finally did appear, he took the trope Up to Eleven.
Haruto: I need more and more screams...
Haruto: Brother, why are they laughing?
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Though it may be down to his "disease".
- No Social Skills: During his time on the streets of Heartland, he crosses a busy road without traffic lights, sends parts of vehicles to another dimension, and is out of place at the Tsukumo household's dinner until Astral shows him to eat.
- He really seems to be unaware of his surroundings entirely.
- Reality Warper
- Sphere of Destruction
- Trademark Favorite Food: Caramel Candy
Orbital 7
A robot who assists Kaito in Numbers hunting through the use of a variety of abilities, most prominent of which is the power to stop time.
- Berserk Button: Flips out when it sees a robot which a criminal trashed.
- Cool Bike: One of his transformations
- Do-Anything Robot: Freezes time, acts as glider wings, turn into a motorbike and holds Kaito's Duel Disk.
- Robot Buddy: To Kaito.
- This Is a Drill: Sucks with it though.
Mr. Heartland
Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (JP), Darren Dunstan (EN)
The mayor of Heartland, Mr. Heartland works with Dr. Faker and is Kaito's handler.
- Catch Phrase: "Heart Burning!", said during his public appearances
- Combat Commentator: During the Duel Coaster section of the WDC.
- Egopolis: He named the city after himself!
- Insistent Terminology:
"Its Mr. Heartland-sama."
- Large Ham: When commentating.
- Multicolored Hair: Two shades of green, similar to Kotori's, actually.
- Smug Snake
- Utopia Justifies the Means
Gauche
- Boisterous Bruiser
- Butt Monkey: At times, especially after swearing he will be the only one to beat Yuma/Astral.
- Foil: To Droite.
- Fiery Redhead
- Friendly Enemy: A bit of a side effect due to his mindset of being The Only One Allowed to Defeat You, but Gauche seems to be warming up to Yuma.
- Heroic Second Wind: His ace monster can't attack unless Gauche is about to lose but when it can attack it can double its attack to the point where its taking out almost anything it's aimed at. He also has a card called Heroic Chance which doubles a Heroic monster's attack, which he often uses in a pinch.
- Hot-Blooded: He could give Jack Atlas a run for his money in this department.
- Improbable Age: He's 19 and sure as hell doesn't look like it.
- Mismatched Eyes: In a similar vein to Kite his left eye turns yellow when he duels.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Gauche is the red to Droite's blue.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: After fighting Yuma once, and discovering that Yuma has the "original Number", Gauche makes it his mission to beat Yuma and one-up Kaito.
- Theme Naming: Gauche and Droite mean "left" and "right" in French, respectively.
Droite
- Badass: Almost beats Tron in Episode 54 with a powerful combo. Sadly, Tron turns it around with his Number.
- Foil: To Gauche.
- Ice Queen
- Improbable Age: She's 19 and doesn't really act like it, though she looks more 19 than Gauche.
- I Owe You My Life: To Kite who saved her once, which is why she's been so protective of him lately.
- Mismatched Eyes: In a similar vein to Kite her left eye turns green when she duels.
- Pretty Butterflies: Droite's entire deck consist of them. Though strangely enough none of them are actually insect type monsters
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Droite is the blue to Gauche's red.
- Sugar and Ice Personality: Most notably in episode 50 when she a lot of concern about Kaito when she finds out he's slowly dying from his photon change.
- Theme Naming: Gauche and Droite mean "left" and "right" in French, respectively.
- Weak but Skilled: Her monsters are lacking in attack and her ace monsters are a bit weak but she uses many spells and traps to make them very dangerous.
Captain Corn
One of three people experimented on by Dr. Faker, Captain Corn once sailed the seven seas as a pirate in his past life. Now he serves as one of Dr. Faker's Numbers Hunters and works as an entertainer at the Heartland Fairgrounds. He owned No.50: Black Corn
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Imagine a pirate made of corn.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Explodes into popcorn upon defeat and is eaten by Yuma and friends.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Corn, obviously. He uses a Corn deck. Which leads us to...
Thunder Spark
An artificial human created from electrons, Thunder Spark served as one of Dr. Faker's Numbers Hunters. He, Captain Corn & Princess Koron-chan served as Guardians of the Theme Park. He used No. 91: Thunder Spark Dragon in his riding duels.
- Artificial Human
- Cool Bike: His Speed Loader Theme Park attraction.
- Harmful to Touch: Due to his power, nobody could touch him without being slightly electrocuted.
- I Just Want to Have Friends
- Go Out with a Smile: Finally got his wish when Yuma offers his hand before he turned back to electrons.
- No Mouth
- Our Homunculi Are Different
Princess Koron-chan
Koron-chan was once the favorite doll of a rich girl. However, as children are oft to do, she became forgotten the moment the child got a new toy. Dr.Faker picked her and experimented on her, giving her life. Since then she has guarded Heartland City's theme park along with her two partners. Adopted by Yuma in the end.
No. 22: Fran Ken
- Creepy Doll
- Elegant Gothic Lolita
- Parental Abandonment Technically. Cathy "abandoned" her when she was just a child.
- Rapunzel Hair
Dr. Faker
Voiced by: Shinji Ogawa (JP), David Brimmer (EN)
The scientist at the center of the Faker faction. Created the Photon series as well inventing the D-Gazer contacts and anchor chain that Kaito, Gauche, Droite and the Tron brothers use. Bears an odd grudge against Xyz monsters in general, and seems to have a bone to pick with the Astral World.
- Man Behind the Man: He's Mr. Heartland's boss, actually.
- Large Ham: Good god, does he ham it up.
- Obviously Evil: Why the hell does Kaito trust the guy called Faker? How many clues does the guy need?!
- It's revealed that Kaito -doesn't- really trust Faker at all. Kaito even calls Faker "The Devil". However, Dr. Faker is still ultimately Kaito's father, and Kaito views it as a necessary evil until Haruto gets better.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Seems to believe that the 'Astral World' is a threat to the world as a whole, and so is doing all this to fight it.
- The Reveal: Fans were more then a little surprised to find out he's actually Kaito and Haruto's father.
Numbers Duelists
Fuya Okudaira (Nelson Andrews)
No.83: Galaxy Queen
- Charles Atlas Superpower
- Conspicuous CG: Inverted; Galaxy Queen is notable because it's one of the only Numbers not rendered in CG.
- Graceful Loser
- Humongous Mecha: Super Dimensional Robo Galaxy Destroyer
- Lonely Rich Kid
- Lost in Character
- Love Makes You Crazy: The reason he's in the show business, and the reason he turned to the dark side was because he loved his mother so much that he couldn't say no to her.
- Parental Substitute
- Put on a Bus
- One-Shot Character
- Show Within a Show: Esper Star Robin
- Superheroes Wear Tights
Jin (Fortuno)
No. 16: Shock Master & No. 11: Big Eye
A very creepy fortune-teller, and also a Numbers Hunter who idolizes Kaito.
- Ascended Fanboy: Averted to a degree. While he is honestly a Numbers Hunter like Kaito, in the end Kaito discards him and takes his Numbers, proving how unimportant Jin really was to him.
- Femme Fatalons: Dear god, look at those things!
- Hostage for McGuffin: Kidnaps Yuma's friends and hangs them over a lava pit to convince Yuma to Duel him with the Numbers on the line.
- Master of Illusion: Which promptly proves to be an illusion. He had them standing on a foot-tall table the entire time.
Kaio & Rikuo (Chills & Scorch)
No. 19: Freezerdon & No. 61: Volcasaurus
- Cheaters Never Prosper: They thought they could get away with stacking their decks. They lose anyway.
- Elemental Powers
- Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
- Tag Team
Yamikawa (Kaze)
No. 12: Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja
- Conspicuous CG: Inverted; it, along with Galaxy Queen above, is one of the few non CG Numbers.
- Defeat Equals Friendship
- Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja
- Ninja
Charlie McCoy
No.7: Lucky Straight and No.11: Big Eye
- Catch Phrase: Life is Carnival!
- Cool Bike: Would love nothing more than to own his friend Kazuma's bike someday.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Charlie and Akari.
- Winds of Destiny Change: The power of his Number, making him unbelievably lucky in games and life.
Shuta Hayami
No.25: Fullmetal Photoglide - Focus Force
- Magical Camera/Spooky Photographs: How he arranges his "scoops".
- Slasher Smile: Dear god, so very much. They're featured quite prominently during his episodes. He out-smiles all the other slasher smilers in the series so far. (and given IV's record with this trope, that's saying something!)
- Sempai-Kohai: Abused his relationship with Kotori.
- Villainous Breakdown: When he noticed that Yuma did not summon Utopia on the fifth turn.