Shinji Weber

Shinji Weber is a character who appears in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is a friend of Crow Hogan.

Appearance
Shinji is a tall fair-skinned young man, with double coloured purple hair that has strands of blue in the base of his hair (somewhat reminiscent of Reginald Kastle) and green eyes.

He wears a colored biker suit with strands of blue on his tights and chest with a yellow pattern across his mid chest. The suit seems to be held together by a belt. His half-open suit reveals a gray shirt worn underneath. He also wears brown boots and gloves. Shinji wears a brown helmet with a green visor during Turbo Duels.

Personality
Due to the circumstances of his harsh life as a Commons resident since a young age, Shinji has a deep hatred towards the current system of the City and the Tops, who took everything from them and lived by them without any ounce of worry or reward. His hatred is further exacerbated by the takeover of the home that sheltered him due to debt, as well as constant humiliation and scorn from Tops, who viewed him and his cards as trash, inspiring him to change the system.

Believing the Friendship Cup is nothing but a "show for Tops" he never hesitates in throwing as many derogatory comments as he can at them, while at the same time criticizing the Commons in the audience for acting submissive and tame as the Tops wanted. Despite this, he subsequently encouraged them to rise up, using his own Dueling as a demonstration of how the Commons can fight united and supporting each other and able to overthrow the current society. He demonstrated great charisma in being able to quickly win the favor of the entire audience, going as far as refer to his own Dueling as the Commons' Dueling united.

Otherwise in a more casual environment, Shinji is a rather friendly and sociable individual, bringing gifts to the kids under Crow's care, and even attending to others such as Reira with care. He is also seen to be more than willing to give a helping hand to an outsider as he as his friends helped the Lancers evade Security, and he ended up getting arrested himself when he tried to warn Crow about Security.

Etymology
Shinji Weber may be named after Max Weber, a German sociologist, philosopher, jurist, and political economist whose ideas profoundly influenced social theory and social research, reflecting Shinji's character as someone who wants to change the social system of the City.

Biography
When Security cornered the Lancers Yuya Sakaki, Selena, Reira and Silvio by gathering more units, Shinji helped Crow rescue them and dropped them off at his hideout. Later, Shinji visited the hideout to bring in the supplies Crow requested. He didn't like that fact that the Lancers were still in the hideout since they were wanted now, and could bring trouble to the kids and Crow. Before Shinji left, he warned Crow that the Security were searching high and low for the Lancers. When he found out that the Security had cornered the Lancers, Shinji went to warn Crow, who was Dueling Yuya at that moment, but was too late and the Security had them all arrested. He tried to escape on his Duel Runner, but he was blocked and got caught as well.

He, Crow, and the Lancers were brought to the Facility. He and Crow explained how most of the inmates were there on false charges. They reunited with Gong and Dennis and learned about Shay's solitary confinement. He then watched as Chojiro Tokumatsu Dueled Yuya and he and Crow were reminded of how Chojiro used to be an idol for many Commons in the past.

While Chojiro, Yuya and Silvio held an Action Duel Show for the inmates, Shinji planned a prison break with Crow and their friend Damon, who was also imprisoned there. The three Commons escaped ahead of the imprisoned Lancers, who were running from the Arrest Corps.

When the prison breakers reunited, they dived into the river and swam to the other side, where Tony was waiting for them. Unbeknownst to them, Tony was already caught by Security and the entire group was arrested again by Jean-Michel Roger. The entire group was then salvaged from the Security vehicles by order of the Executive Council. They were brought to the Council and were invited to participate in the Friendship Cup under Declan's suggestion. Shinji was locked in a luxurious room in the tower, where he would wait his turn to Duel.

After Crow's and Gong's Duel, Shinji was scheduled to Duel Reira Akaba. Reira, however, was unwilling to Duel him because Shinji gave him candy before. Because of this, Tsukikage replaced Reira as Shinji's opponent, which confused Melissa Claire and the audience, as they mistook Reira as a ninja. Before the Duel, Shinji rallied the Commons to stand up and fight the injustice done to them by the Tops. He claimed that the Commons were acting passively just as the Tops wanted them to be. He told them that he broke out of the detention facility solely to put on a show for the Tops and declared his intentions of not playing by their rules. He was quickly chastised by Melissa, who reminded him of the "friendship" concept of the tournament.

Tsukikage dealt heavy damage right away by making use of the Action Cards in "Cross Over Accel" with "Illusion Ninjitsu Art of Hazy Shuriken", but Shinji stopped Tsukikage from continuing this by pulling an Action Card away from him. He then Summoned his "Bee Force" monsters and explained their similarity to the Commons. Using "Bee Force - Voulge the Attack" he ran through Tsukikage's combo of "Twilight Ninja - Shingetsu" and" Illusion Ninjitsu Art of Hazy Toad". Shinji chided Tsukikage for carelessly using a power-up and taking unnecessary damage in the process. He compared this to the Tops taking greater damage when they lose their wealth; what happened to Tsukikage would also happen to the Tops. This insulted the Tops audience members

Shinji hurt Tsukikage's pride as a ninja by believing him to act just like Security, as somebody who bowed down to his lord and being a good for nothing. Subsequently, when Tsukikage kept on his offensive, he talked about his own personal hardships as well as the overall unfairness of the current system, which mirrored Tsukikage's persistence in hurting Shinji continuously as how the Tops kept taking things away from Shinji and humiliated him and his cards. Shinji used his swarm of "Bee Force" monsters to get through Tsukikage's wall of "Ninja" monsters, fortified by "Twilight Ninja Shogun - Getsuga" and used "Urgent Tuning" to summon his Level 12 Synchro Monster "Bee Force - Big Ballista the Final Battle" during the Battle Phase. He attacked Tsukikage with it, blowing up the Duel Runner he was on. While doing so, he rallied to Commons again and explained how it was their turn to rise up and not just his. Tsukikage, for some reason, did not activate an Action Card that could have saved him and was defeated. The audience, finally moved by Shinji's words, cheered at his victory, but he cut them short. He said this was not the time to cheer fully just yet, but he still encouraged them to fight back. The Tops residents, on the other hand, viewed Shinji with fear and suspicion, causing Jean to believe that a riot could be troublesome, but shook off the concern with the notion that he would round up the rioters.

Deck
Shinji runs a "Bee Force" Deck that focuses on swarming the field with monsters for Synchro Summoning. His Synchro Monsters have ATK-manipulation effects. He compares his monsters to the Commons of the City and sees them as an example of what the Commons can do if they would work up together, like bees.