Leo Akaba

Leo Akaba or Reo Akaba, also commonly known as the Professor, is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime, the husband of Henrietta and is the father of Declan, though he abandoned the family before the adoption of Riley. He is responsible for Duel Academy's attacks on the Xyz Dimension. According to his voice actor, Leo is a character with high importance and a great impact to the story. Due to his position and machinations he is the primary antagonist of the series.

Appearance
Leo Akaba is a middle-aged tan-skinned bald man with light blue eyes. He wears a purple colored militaristic outfit with several black buttons which resembles the outfit of Vellian Crowler, a purple cape with a black ending, and a pair of gray boots. He also has a black belt with a red line which both end in a button on the front, and what appear to be red circular strings across his chest with a pair of black gloves on his hands. His perhaps most noticeable traits are the armored plate at the left side of his head with what appears to be a red circular lens, and pronounced blood vessels on the top of his head.

Etymology
"零" ("rei") means "zero" or "nothing", while "王" ("ō") means "king". The normal reading of Leo's name would be "Reiō"; however, it is read as "Reo" instead, so Reo's name is pronounced exactly like "Leo" in Japanese.

His dub name comes from his Japanese Name: Leo/Lion is mostly known as "king of beasts". In addition, his name can be separated into "Le' 0" which means "the zero", both linking to his Japanese Name.

Personality
At this point, very little of Leo's personality has been revealed. He seems to be heartless enough to abandon his home and family, seen when he forcefully sent Declan back to Paradise City, and evil enough to commit genocide on the Xyz Dimension and during Obelisk Force attacks on the Standard Dimension (and the Synchro Dimension City, thought not shown yet). He is pragmatic; he does not punish his subordinates for their failures in contrast to his former subordinate Jean-Michel Roger.

He appears to have charisma and excellent leadership skills, as apparently everybody at Duel Academy obeys him and finds it extremely difficult to betray him (though not without exception). The only times he has authorized force has been with Yuri, Dennis, and Barrett's missions to capture Celina and her dimensional counterparts. Unlike many people in Duel Academy Leo doesn't enjoy harming others and take pleasure in others suffering. He was shown to be visibly annoyed when The Doktor used Parasite Monsters to brainwash the bracelet girls and reacted in shock when Yuri ruthlessly sealed Alexis Rhodes into a card.

History
Leo originally hailed from the Standard Dimension, and was the original founder of Leo Corporation, as well as Leo Institute of Dueling. One day, he suddenly left for the Fusion Dimension without telling anyone in his family, thereby abandoning the company. He took control of Duel Academy and used it as a frontline base to enact his plan to unite the Four Dimensions into one supreme world.

One day, he and Celina met Yuri and told him of his crucial role in the Arc Area Project.

Eventually, Declan stumbled into Duel Academy through a teleportation device, but Leo caught up to him. Celina, who was attempting to escape with Declan's aid, complained to Leo about being stuck at Duel Academy while her comrades were preparing to attack the Xyz Dimension, but he refused to add her to the vanguard squad. Declan also protested that Leo had abandoned Leo Corporation, to which Leo asked him if he had crossed dimensions just to find him, confusing Declan even further. The Obelisk Force troops apprehended Celina, and Leo told her that he would definitely find her and bring her back to Duel Academy, regardless of where she ran. He then used a wristwatch-like device to send Declan back to Standard, but not before telling him about the Fusion Dimension and about him using Duel Academy to help him bring the worlds together.

Arc League Championship
Leo was first mentioned by Shay when Declan first confronts him. Both Shay and Declan consider Leo their enemy, with Declan insisting he is preparing Duelists to confront and defeat Leo.

When Declan and Shay were watching the Duel between Yuto, Sora Perse, and Yuya Sakaki, Yuto revealed that Duel Academy invaded the Xyz Dimension. Declan stated that this was due to Leo Akaba's ambition. After Sora was transported back to Duel Academy within the Fusion Dimension, Leo was watching over a machine absorbing cards into itself. At the time, he was informed by the aide that the forced return program activated once Sora revealed his mission to their enemies within the Standard Dimension. However, Leo clarified that the Standard Dimension was not their enemy and that investigating Sora's memories would explain the situation. After doing so, he informed Yuri about Zuzu Boyle's existence, claiming that she might be the fourth piece that he was looking for. Because of this, he ordered Yuri to bring Zuzu to Duel Academy.

When Sora asked Leo directly to let him return to Standard, Leo granted his request, under the conditions that Obelisk Force would accompany him and that he would retrieve Celina and bring her back to Duel Academy.

Friendship Cup Finals
After hearing Dennis' report that Zuzu and Celina were in the Synchro Dimension's City, Leo gave Barrett a new mission to go to the Synchro Dimension with the Obelisk Force and capture Zuzu and Celina. He also informed him that Yuri would also come to the Synchro Dimension.

Heartland City
After Mamoru sent a report about Pendulum Summoning being used in the Xyz Dimension, Leo sent Gloria and Grace Tyler to Heartland City to help defeat the Lancers. As a precaution he also sent the Obelisk Force as backup in case the Tyler sisters lost. After Leo received Celina's report that she had captured Zuzu, he mused that it was time for Yusho Sakaki to learn the truth, while he watched Yusho arrive at Duel Academy with The Doktor.

As Doktor monitored how his "" made Rin follow his orders, Leo recognized his results but warned him that Rin and her counterparts are important to the Arc Area Project and not to be harmed. He then looked over to the other monitor to see Yusho and Alexis Rhodes. When Sanders contacted him about the Lancers landing on the island's north side, Leo told him to carry out the mission according to the plan and take Yuya Sakaki down. Leo watched Shay and Kite argue over Lulu's sanity while listening to the Doktor wondering if the siblings bond could beat the Professor's will, and merely watched as the Doktor ran to do more improvements after Shay defeated Lulu. He watched the Duel between Alexis and Yuri, but was horrified at Yuri's wish to seal everyone in all dimensions into cards to prove he's the strongest, evening standing up when Yuri sealed Alexis into a card. He then watched Yuya Dueled Lulu and noticed something when Yuya told Lulu he was Yuto. He then stood up in surprise when Yuya turned into Yuto and wondered if the second personality in Yuya was something else.

Duel Academy
He was informed by the Doktor that he captured Yuya and had his students bring in Declan, Riley, and Yusho, telling the latter he's been waiting for him.

Declan Akaba
It is currently unknown how Leo feels for his son, but Declan is shown to have a deep hatred and unknown grudge towards Leo and says that he is preparing strong duelists who will stop his plans. He also displayed a hatred for his father's ambition due to the suffering he and his army have caused.

Celina
Celina is shown to be annoyed the fact that Leo doesn't allow her to go to the front lines and forces her to stay in Duel Academy. Leo is shown to be interested in Celina's unknown ability and Celina is often trying to impress Leo so that he can allow her to join the war with her comrades.

Yuri
Yuri is shown to be Leo's most trusted student, as it is seen he entrusted him to capture Zuzu and her counterparts knowing how he will handle the situation carefully and is confident in his abilities. In return Yuri is very loyal to him and will carry out his orders without question. However, despite this, even he was greatly disturbed with Yuri's socialpathic behavior.

Sora Perse
Leo appears to trust Sora as much as he trusts Yuri, and when Sora requested to return to the Standard Dimension, Leo allowed him to go and ordered him to return Celina to Duel Academy. Unlike Yuri, Sora ignores his orders in favor of his more personal goals, tracking down Shay instead of Celina, and eventually betrayed him.

Yusho Sakaki
According to Yusho they apparently had a fruitful professional relationship due to their collaboration in developing Action Duels and the ARC System.