Reiji Akaba (manga)

Reiji Akaba is a main character appearing in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V manga. He is the head of the Leo Corporation and aims to capture the Entertainment Duelist "Phantom".

Appearance
Reiji is a thin young man with pale skin and grey hair, the front layer being a lighter grey than the back. His hair is arranged in a simple style, flicking upwards at the ends. Reiji's eyes are purple, and he wears red-framed spectacles. His ears are both pierced with black stud earrings. Despite his status as the CEO of the Leo Corporation, Reiji dresses rather casually, wearing a dark-blue sweater, white pants that end just above his ankles, and white shoes (apparently without any socks beneath them), along with a long red scarf wrapped around his shoulders with the ends trailing to the small of his back.

Personality
In general, showing a bit more emotion compared to his anime counterpart, Reiji has a grim and serious demeanor though he expresses some genuine concern for his subordinates. He is shown to be highly analytical and a skilled strategist, displaying himself as a no-nonsense duelist. Despite targeting Yuya Sakaki, Reiji does not show any open dislike for him though he expressed utter hatred towards Yusho Sakaki for destroying their world. This hatred was potent enough that Reiji refuses to do anything connected to Yusho like Action Duels, even refusing to listen to Yuya's side of the story.

Etymology
His character's last name,  Akaba, means "Red Horse". Reiji's surname is similar to that of Seto Kaiba ( Kaiba Seto) from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, whose name also contains the character 馬 (Uma, Horse), serving as another similarity between the two characters. His given name of Reiji means "Zero Child".

Background
Originating from twenty years into the future, attending an university at a young age, Reiji is the prodigy son of Solid Vision researcher Leo Akaba. Due to his father's busy schedule, Reiji would lower grades from his university classes in an attempt for attention. Though Leo easily saw through his son's intentions, teasing him about it, Reiji was able to spend time with his father when he took him to dinner. There, Leo explains to Reiji that he and his partner Yusho Sakaki are working on a project to combine Solid Vision with Duel Monsters. Leo then asks Reiji to finish that project for him if anything would happen to him.

A few years later, tricked by Leo to go to his lab and help finish his research, Reiji learns from his father via monitor that their world is about to be destroyed by the time manipulative effects of Genesis Omega Dragon. As Leo revealed the G.O.D. card was stolen by Yusho and assumed to have used it to sent his son Yuya back in time, he dies telling Reiji to stop Yuya from finding the G.O.D card before the transmission ended. Reiji remained in the underground shelter after the World Illusion passed before he was saved by Eve.

Traveling back in time to Maiami City three years before Yuya was to arrive, Reiji fulfilled his promise to Leo by establishing the Leo Corporation and introducing Solid Vision for public use. Three months before Yuya arrives, Reiji begins to gather Duelists strong enough to take Yuya down with Nico Smiley directing him to Shun Kurosaki.

Present
Reiji was first seen in the control room of Leo Corporation, when the sensors detected the summoning of "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon". This alerts Reiji to Yuya finally making his presence known while dispatching his special squad to seize him for hacking into the LDS Solid Vision System. When Yuto attempts a misdirect when and Yuya are cornered by Shingo Sawatari, Reiji suspected the mystery duelist to be a possible accomplice of Yuya's before learning the two are one and the same. After Yuya defeated Shingo and escaped his men, Reiji debriefs the agents, and tells them that he intends to analyze Yuya's ability to Pendulum Summon. When alerted to Shun Kurosaki acting on his own violation to duel Yuya, Reiji allowed it while showing an intimate knowledge of Pendulum Summoning. That intensified Sora Shiunin's inquiry over Reiji's obsession towards catching Yuya as a result.

When Sora made an attempt to sneak into room where the company's super computer is stored, Reiji allowed the boy to break in before making himself known. He then proceeds to have Sora asks his questions, explaining to the boy that the super computer analyzed and predicted Yuya as a "Destiny Factor", a person whose existence would threaten the world. But when Sora then begins question Reiji himself, noting the inaccuracies of his sudden appearance and establishing Leo Corp within a small amount of time, Reiji ends the questionnaire. Reiji advises Sora to get his remaining answers from Yuya, intending the boy to give more data by giving him prototype Pendulum Monster cards along with intel that Yuya is seeking Genesis Omega Dragon.

When Sora's duel with Yuya commences the next day, Reiji instructs Shun and Shingo to remain and observe. During the duel, making no attempt to confirm nor deny it, Reiji gets confronted by Shun when Sora claims that the former was holding his sister Miu Shiunin hostage. But once it was revealed that Sora made the story up, having allowed his subordinate to speak his mind, Reiji shot down Shun's apology attempt while making a comment to remember the latter's distaste for kidnapping. After the duel ended, sending Shingo and Shun off to inspect the damage, Reiji left for an excavation site run by his company: entering a secret room where he acquires his deck to personally deal with Yuya.

Reiji then reaches Yuya's hideout, falling through the trapdoor Yuya triggered to they would duel in the underground cavern where Yuya first came to in this time. Despite Yuya's attempts to talk Reiji out of it, Reiji proceeds to express his hatred towards Yusho for causing his father's death while insisting for a normal Duel rather than an Action Duel. Reiji proceeds to overwhelm Yuya to the point he called Yuto and Yuri for help, refusing to accept his opponent's side of the story. But their Duel ended in a draw when Reiji reveals that are being spied on. Ren then appeared, revealing the G.O.D. card is in Eve's possession and confirmed that Reiji also possesses the Adam Factor which they are need to awaken the card's full power. But the damage caused by the duel causes a cave-in, forcing all parties to escape. Once safe, Yuya attempts to convince Reiji that they need to join forces against the new threat Eve poses. But Reiji refuses and leaves, Yuya feeling that Reiji may reconsider once he accepts the truth of what he said to him. Reiji dropped off the grid after that with Leo Corp shutting down as consequence.

In reality, Reiji took refuge in the orbital space station where various tests of Solid Vision are conducted. Patching a communications link to Yuya following his win over Ren, Reiji is confronted by Isaac who expresses an interest as a fellow scientist while revealing himself as one of Eve's servants. While Isaac explains how the Adam Factor can be extracted, he provokes Reiji by revealing the true events of how the G.O.D. card came into his father's possession.

Non-canon
Reiji faced Yuya Sakaki in an Action Duel in the special manga chapter. He used relentless tactics to quickly Summon high-Level monsters and was skilled with the use of Action Cards. In this chapter, Reiji is portrayed as a rather serious and a reserved Duelist, and he claims that he never loses Duels.

Leo Akaba
Reiji's relationship with his father is a complex one, often seeking his attention. When Reiji succeeds, he agrees to aid his father in anyway in his research and complete it should something happen him. However, unaware of the full truth, Reiji was horrified when Leo sacrificed himself to ensure his son survived the World Illusion. He takes the promises to his father seriously, establishing Leo Corp while doing everything in his power to prevent Yuya from finding the G.O.D. card. Reiji's impression of his father was great to the point that he refuses to accept the truth that Yuya and Isaac each revealed about Leo.

Yuya Sakaki
The relationship between Yuya and Reiji is one built on the latter's grudge against the former's father and his need to study the former. From Reiji's perspective, calling him the Destiny Factor, Yuya is finishing what Yusho began in their time and seeks to stop him. When Reiji personally duels Yuya, he refuses to listen to the youth's attempts to tell him what actually occurred with his fathers and the G.O.D. card. Their duel ended in a stalemate when Yuya's hideout began to cave-in, both learning they possess the Adam Factor as it briefly warped their surroundings during the duel. Although Yuya tends to disagree with Reiji's methods, he knows that he is a good person at heart and would accept the truth eventually.

Shingo Sawatari and Shun Kurosaki
Two duelists Reiji selected to aid him in hunting down Yuya, personally recruiting Shun.

Sora Shiunin
A duelist that Reiji selected to aid him in hunting down Yuya, Sora was the only LC duelist who questioned Reiji's reasons for them to hunt Yuya down. Reiji used that curiosity to send him after Yuya, even giving him enough knowledge to establish a means to snare Yuya in. It would later turn out that Sora was a sleeper agent for Eve sent to unconsciously spy on Reiji.

Yusho Sakaki
Reiji expressed sheer hated towards Yusho, blaming him for his father's death and the ruination of their time. The hatred was intense enough that Reiji refuses to utilize Action Dueling or listen to Yuya telling him was actually happened involving the World Illusion.

Canon
Reiji runs a "D/D" Deck focused on Pendulum Summoning.

Reiji's main strategy consists of reducing the DEF of his opponent's monsters to zero and inflicting piercing battle damage with monsters such as "D/D/D Supersight King Zero Maxwell" and "D/D/D Destiny King Zero Laplace". With the aid of cards like "Block Attack" and "00 Rush", those monsters' effects allow Reiji to quickly inflict heavy damage to his opponent, while repeatedly reviving his monsters by Pendulum Summoning them back if they get destroyed.

Most of Reiji's manga cards have a "zero" theme. This is a reference to Reiji's name, which is written with the character for "zero" (零 Rei).

Non-canon
In the special manga chapter, Reiji runs a Fiend Deck, featuring the "DD" and "Archfiend" archetypes. He uses Pendulum Summon and cards like "Rules of Antiquity" to easily bring high-Level monsters on the field.