Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

'Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-Ⅴ' (read as "Arc Five") is a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, the fourth main spin-off series, which began airing in Japan on April 6, 2014, following the end of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. The series focuses on a new protagonist, Yuya Sakaki. As with the previous spin-offs, it focuses on (and introduces) a new type of Summon, Pendulum Summon, as well as Pendulum Monsters and the mechanic in general.

This series marks the only Yu-Gi-Oh! series to show all unique types of Summoning from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game: Fusion Summon (from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX), Ritual Summon (from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX), Synchro Summon (from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's), Xyz Summon (from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL), and the newly introduced Pendulum Summon.

Story
''Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V'' centers around Yuya Sakaki, as he tries to escape from harsh reality by smiling. But one Duel leads him to make a determination to confront the difficulties and he will get the power of infinite possibilities. The show's main theme is "Take a step forward with courage!!"

Yuya is a student at a preparatory school, learning to become an "entertainment Duelist", a type of professional Duelist.

The story is set in Miami City on the coast of Japan. Leo Corporation is run by its president Reiji Akaba. Thanks to the spread of the company's "Solid Vision with mass," "Action Duels" are born in Miami City and has reached worldwide popularity. Children look up to star-level Pro Duelists, and they learn Summoning and Duel styles at various large and small cram schools, including the You Show Duel School that Yuya attends and the largest of such schools, Leo Duel School (LDS).

One day, Yuya ends up fighting an exhibition match with the current champion of Pro Duel world…

During the duel, Yuya's pendant begins to glow, giving him access to a never-before-seen type of summoning called Pendulum Summoning. This causes the Leo Corporation to take an interest in Yuya. Meanwhile, a dark duelist is trying to take down the Leo Corporation, and he looks exactly like Yuya!

In order to become a pro and follow in his father's footsteps, Yuya must win four matches in a row to qualify for the Junior Youth Championship.

Music
Japanese opening theme 1: Believe x Believe
 * Performer: Bullettrain
 * Episodes: 001-

Japanese ending theme 1: One Step
 * Performer: Pendulum★Cute
 * Episodes: 001-

Manga
A one shot manga chapter was published in the 7/2014 issue of V Jump, featuring a Duel between Yuya Sakaki and Reiji Akaba. It is currently unknown whether there will be a continuous manga series as well in the future.

Allusions to previous series
Like the series' predecessor, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, this series has many allusions to the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! series. However, unlike ZEXAL and more akin to the original series, GX and 5D's, ARC-V also contains hints of continuity within the series, of which while none thus far have directly correlated with concise plot lines or characters from previous series, they have recognized previous technologies used in series past (i.e. the use of all major monster categories up until this point and the use of a Duel Runner.)


 * Yuya Sakaki's ace monster, "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", has 2500 ATK, like all of the previous protagonists' ace monsters. Like all of the ace monsters since GX, "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" has 2000 DEF. It is also Level 7 like Yugi's "Dark Magician" and Jaden's "Elemental HERO Neos". It also follows the rotation of Attributes and Types that started from the first series. However, it is the first to have the Attribute of one previous ace monster and the Type of another, in this case the DARK Attribute of "Dark Magician" and the Dragon Type of "Stardust Dragon" (since Yuma's "Number 39: Utopia" had both the Type and Attribute of "Neos").
 * As with all series since GX, the protagonist's deck focuses on monsters from the Extra Deck (though here they don't start out there) and like all series since 5D's, the monsters (including the protagonist's ace monster) are a new type of card introduced in that series.
 * The Duel Disks used in the series seem to be a hybrid of previously mainstream Disks from most of the previous series:
 * The Disk's card table is composed of Solid Vision energy, very similar to the Disks used by the Three Pure Nobles as well as the Disks used by Duelists in the said trio's alleged future of which Synchro Summoning dooms the human race.
 * The said card table is also in a very strikingly similar shape to the original Kaiba Corp Duel Disks first utilized in the Battle City.
 * The touchscreen computer portion of the Disks as well as the Deck slot locations also strongly mirror each respective component seen in the D-Pads in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
 * Indeed, this portion of the Disk is colored red in Yuya's (main character in ARC-V) Disk, similar to how Yuma's (main protagonist in ZEXAL) D-Pad is red-colored.
 * The first duel of the series has the opponent use a monster with 3000 ATK (though for the first time its ATK is raised beyond that) and it is defeated by using a (if not the) ace monster and altering the ATK of one or both monsters.
 * The opponent is a strong figure (in at least some respects), which draws attention when they lose. As with the original series and ZEXAL, the opponent is a known Duel Monsters champion, and as with GX and 5D's the opponent is not the protagonist's rival, but simply someone with authority in the matter of the duel.
 * As with all previous series, after the protagonist's premiere victory, the next duel and/or episode takes a step back and shows a different result. In the original series, episode 2 features Yugi/Yami Yugi just barely not defeating Pegasus due to a timer. In GX, Jaden just barely doesn't defeat Chazz because the duel was interrupted. In 5D's, Yusei is first shown losing to Jack in a flashback and then partakes in the first regular duel of the series. In Zexal, Yuma outright loses to Caswell after realizing he doesn't possess the Numbers anymore and Astral is nowhere to be seen. Here, Yuya loses to Yuzu by putting himself in a tight spot to try Pendulum Summoning and not being able to do so.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

 * Yuya's pendant causes his gaming ability to evolve and win the current duel, but does not allow him to remember. This is similar to the earlier occurrences of Yami Yugi taking over for Yugi and Yugi would have no memory of his actions.
 * Yuya's first (full) duel of the series is against the reigning champion and is dueling due to his father's absence and uses the duel to show the kind of dueling he wants everyone to experience and use. This mirrors Yugi/Yami Yugi's duel against Kaiba for the sake of his grandpa and tries to teach Kaiba about respecting the cards and dueling with heart. In both cases, when they lose doubt, they remember what their respective family said to them about dueling (and essentially life) and draw their last card of the duel, which allows them to win in one-shot using five monster cards in a way that had never been done before.
 * Noboru Gongenzaka, Yuya's best friend, uses a "Superheavy Samurai" deck that functions as a monster only deck. This is similar to Joey Wheeler, Yugi's best friend, making his earliest deck (as seen in episode 2 of that series) entirely out of monsters though for different reasons. In both cases the main character consults them on this to understand their dueling better (and in Yugi's case to develop his abilities) in very similar settings.
 * Shingo Sawatari kidnaps Yuya Sakaki's friends like Marik Ishtar kidnaps Yugi Muto's friends in order to force their respective opponents into Dueling them.
 * Reiji Akaba being the president of Leo Corporation mirrors Seto Kaiba as the president of Kaiba Corp. Both seem to be elite duelists and have similar hair styles.
 * Also, Leo Duel School is owned by Leo Corporation, like Duel Academy is owned by Kaiba Corp.
 * It may be moreover implied that the Leo Corporation is a successor to Kaiba Corp, seeing as how both business conglomerates possess a de facto influence on the Dueling industry in each respective series. The Duel Disks that presumably were also made by Leo Corporation, are also very similar in appearance to the ones initially fabricated by Kaiba Corp.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

 * The anime setting is primarily in You Show Duel School, similar to GX's Duel Academy.
 * The class system of the schools in ARC-V (i.e. Leo Duel School in comparison to You Show Duel School) mirrors the class system trichotomy that the Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow, and Slifer Red dorms respectively embody.
 * Yuya (main protagonist in ARC-V) sports a red shirt as part of his attire and attends a school that seems to be the lowest on the "totem pole," similar to how Jaden Yuki (main protagonist in GX) wears a red jacket that is reflective of his dorm, Slifer Red, of which is the most pauperized of the three dorms.
 * Shingo Sawatari's personality is similar to Chazz Princeton's. Both Duelists are arrogant and believe that strong and rare cards can win Duels. They swore revenge on the main protagonists of their respective series after being defeated by them.
 * Both were at one point also accompanied by a few toadies.
 * Both lost in episode 4 of their respective series to the respective protagonists by cards they considered weak.
 * They also both almost completely altered their Decks with stronger cards the next time they Dueled (Chazz from using mostly Fiends to the "VWXYZ" cards whereas Shingo switched from the "Darts Shooter" cards to the "Monarchs",) only to also both lose these next said Duels in turn.
 * In episode 8, the LDS sent elite Duelists from their school to the You Show Duel School to Duel students from the latter as a sort of "punishment" to rectify Yuto's (who they think was really Yuya) actions in the previous episode. This is similar to how Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale were forced to Duel the Paradox Brothers (the latter characters touted as two of the most elite Duelists in GX) as punishment for illegally entering the Abandoned Dorm.
 * The series acknowledges the existence of Fusion Monsters as monsters only the elite use.
 * Mieru Hochun is an expert in fortune telling like Sartorius.
 * In addition, she uses Arcana Force cards as her Tarot cards, since the Arcana Force represent the Tarot.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

 * Just like Turbo Duels, Action Duels require a Field Spell Card to be activated before the start of the Duel that sets rules on a specific type of Spell Card (and also Trap Cards here) that are unique to those duels. Also, the duelists riding around on their monsters within the field can be seen as an evolution of using Duel Runners.
 * Both Yuya and Yusei Fudo have a similar strategy: swarming the field with monsters that are generally low in power/Level, but have beneficial effects to compensate for low power, while setting up for their respective aces to deal the final blow.
 * Yuto has an ability to inflict real damage, destruction and pain are similar to both Psychic Duelists and Shadow Duels.
 * The series acknowledges the existence of Synchro Monsters as monsters only the elite use.
 * An unknown Duelist named Yugo uses a Duel Runner.
 * Reiji insinuating an evolution in Pendulum Summon to Yuya is very likely similar to Bruno showing further evolution in Synchro Summon to Yusei.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL

 * When Yuya is losing a duel and draws the card he needs to turn it around, the card gives off light which is similar to that of a Shining Draw.
 * Similar as to how Yuma Tsukumo didn't have any of the new kind of monster (Xyz Monsters) at the start of ZEXAL, Yuya began the ARC-V series without any Pendulum Monsters.
 * In fact, both characters first obtained their first said monsters by supernatural means during their first full duel of the series (Yuma obtained "Number 39: Utopia" after first using the Emperor's Key to open The Door, which in turn, scattered Astral's remaining memories ("Numbers"), leaving the said card behind, whereas Yuya attained "Stargazer Magician", "Timegazer Magician" and "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" after his pendant glowed for the first time).
 * Yuto mirroring Yuya's appearance is similar to Number 96 taking Astral's form.
 * Indeed, Yuto uses a monster that uses a similar effect to Number 96's ace.
 * Yuya and Yuma Tsukumo own special pendants that were given to them by their fathers.
 * Their fathers also gave them advice to motivate them in life - Kazuma taught Yuma "kattobingu", while Yusho taught Yuya to laugh when he felt down. The fathers also disappeared prior to the start of their respective series.
 * Yuya's "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" (a Pendulum Monster) which is an upgraded form of his "Odd-Eyes Dragon" (an Effect Monster), mirrors Kite Tenjo's "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" (an Effect Monster) and "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" (an Xyz Monster), as both pairs are "Eyes" Dragon-Type monsters of which each said Effect Monsters' first upgraded forms are of the new kind of monster in each respective series.
 * The series acknowledges the existence of Xyz Monsters as monsters only the elite use.
 * Furthermore all Xyz Monsters featured in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime thus far use the "Number" Overlay Network.
 * Like Kite Tenjo dueling Yuma Tsukumo at their first encounter, Reiji dueled Yuya in two episodes.
 * In first episodes, both Kite and Reiji summoned significant strong monsters quickly ("Numbers" for Kite and each type of Extra Deck monsters showcased in the previous episodes for Reiji) before sacrificing them to be able to play their 3000 ATK point monsters.
 * In the second episodes, Kite and Reiji proved to be a match for Yuma and Yuya, then left the Duel unfinished due to something happening with someone they need to check on and leaving their opponents shocked and despondent.
 * Yuto and Yugo's confrontation shares similarities with Yuma and Kite's first duel as well.
 * The location where Kite and Yuma's duel took place strikes resemblance to the devastated location where Yugo and Yuto were.
 * Yugo's color clothing is the same as Kite.
 * Lastly both battles were interrupted along with the fact that both Kite and Yugo left on a motorcycle.


 * "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" has at least one upgraded form which can be summoned using Polymerization, just as "Number 39: Utopia" has multiple upgraded forms which can be summoned through "Rank-Up-Magic" cards.