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
Unlike his more stoic anime counterpart, he is very emotional and reserved, but he is still a very confident and serious person. In addition, his personality is much more caring, as demonstrated when Shingo was Dueling Yuto and he showed genuine concern.

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".

History
Three years ago before the events of manga Reiji appeared out of nowhere and took over Leo Corporation and according to him he also shares some connection and relationship with Yuya. Three months before the events of manga, Reiji was looking for strong Duelists when he met Nico Smiley. Nico took him to the underground, where he witnessed Shun Kurosaki Dueling Ootomo. After hearing about Shun from Nico and witnessing his skills, he decided to recruit him.

Present
Reiji was first seen in the control room of Leo Corporation, when the sensors detected the summoning of "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon". This alerted him to the presence of "Phantom". He immediately dispatched the special squad to seize "Phantom" on charges of hacking into the LDS Solid Vision System. However, his true intention of capturing "Phantom" was because his identity, Yuya Sakaki, was the "Factor of Destiny". However, when Phantom was cornered by Shingo Sawatari, he revealed himself to be Yuto instead, shocking Reiji. He then worriedly watched Shingo Dueling Yuto and was shocked to see that Yuya and Yuto can change bodies. After Yuya defeated Shingo, Reiji ordered his men to move in and capture Yuya, but Yuya escaped using a paper airplane made from Solid Vision.

Later, back at the Leo Corporation, Reiji debriefs the agents, and tells them that he's going to begin analyzing Pendulum Summoning. Soon, alarms start sounding due to the detection of someone using Solid Vision. He finds that it's Shun, who had started an Action Duel with Yuya. After Shingo wants to go stop him, saying Shun doesn't have the clearance to do that, Reiji tells him to stay, saying the duel will make things go faster. After Yuya sets the Pendulum Scale, he explains Pendulum Monsters to Shingo and Sora, telling them how they work in the Pendulum Zone, and the amount of monsters that they can summon. After Shingo is puzzled by Shun's dueling style, Reiji tells him that the worse Shun's situation gets, the stronger he is. After Shun destroys Yuya's Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon with his ace, Raidraptor - Blade Burner Falcon, and sends Phantom Dragon to Yuya's Extra Deck, Reiji explains that destroyed Pendulum Monsters go into the Extra Deck, instead of the graveyard. After Yuya summons Phantom Dragon back to the field, Reiji thinks to himself that this ability is the true threat of Pendulum Summoning. Eventually, Shun is defeated.

Reiji later finds Sora sneaking into the mother computer room. He explains that he let Sora in, and that he wears special contact lenses to prevent theft of retinal pattern. When Sora asks about Yuya, he tells him that he's the destiny factor who will one day destroy the world. After Sora asks how he knows this, he explains the mother computer predicted it. Sora then asks him who he is, saying that the Leo Corporation suddenly appeared and took over the city's solid vision system. Reiji tells him that he will not answer questions about himself, and tells Sora to ask Yuya if he wants to know more. Sora sets off to find Yuya, with Reiji giving him prototype Pendulum Monsters as payment for getting this far, and tells him to try them out.

Later, Reiji, Shun, and Shingo watch as Sora begins to duel Yuya. Shingo and Shun wanted to go help capture Yuya, with Shun saying that Shun will never defeat him, but Reiji tells them to stay, saying that they can watch something interesting. After Sora lies to Yuya, saying that Reiji took his little sister hostage and will kill her if he loses, Shun tells Reiji that it's inhuman. After Sora's lie is revealed, Reiji says to Shun that if he looks like scum to him that he shall keep that in mind, with Shun becoming embarrassed. After Sora Pendulum Summons, much to the suprise of Shun and Shingo,Reiji tells them that he gave Sora prototypes so they could collect even more data on Yuya. After Sora, his third and last agent is defeated, Reiji thinks that he must defeat Yuya himself.

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.

Canon
Reiji's current deck is unknown, however he has been shown to be in possession of a mysterious Pendulum Monster.

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.