Bakura Ryou

Bakura Ryou, known as Ryo Bakura (獏良了 Bakura Ryō) in the Japanese version, is a recurring character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. He is a classmate and friend of Yugi Muto.

He is the modern-day counterpart to Bandit King Bakura.

Yami Bakura is his other self, released from the power of the Millennium Ring. The two rarely directly converse. Unlike the close, cooperative relationship between Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi, Yami Bakura is a malignant entity that completely suppresses Bakura's spirit when he takes over.

Appearance
Bakura's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi.

In the Duelist Kingdom arc he wears a white wool sweater and green undershirt. His usual outfit in following seasons consists of a blue opened shirt over a light blue and white horizontally striped t-shirt. In the manga, he wears just the t-shirt more often. His white hair is pointed downwards in various directions and trails half way down his back. He wears the Millennium Ring on a lace around his neck. In the manga, during the Ceremonial Battle, he wore a different white t-shirt.

In the first series, Bakura has green eyes, and his hair is pale blue; Yami Bakura has purple eyes. In the second series, both Bakuras have brown eyes and white hair.

Voice/Mannerisms
In the original version, Bakura has a polite speaking matter, using many honorifics for others. The evil half however, mainly uses them for only himself, going as far as to refer to himself as "ore-sama" (ore = a tough word for "I"["ore" and "boku" words for "I" is for men. Women mostly use "watashi"], -sama = a very high honorific suffix, the rough translation would be something along the lines of "My honorable self"). The western pendant to this habit is the "Pluralis Maiestatis", commonly known as the "royal we". He has also called Yami Yugi "Ou-Sama", or "Your majesty", but it can be easily assumed he was mocking Yami Yugi. The evil half goes as far as to disrespect his opponents by calling them temee (a very offensive way of saying "you").

To represent the good Bakura's polite manner of speech, the English dub gives Bakura a British-English accent, with Yami Bakura's voice sounding deeper and more sinister while keeping the accent. In the Singaporean dub, Bakura speaks with a Southern-American accent.

The darker half is an excellent actor, and has been shown on numerous occasions to mimic his surface self well enough to fool even his friends. He also has unfailing arrogance, likely stemming from the fact that even a Shadow Game cannot permanently defeat him; in both Duelist Kingdom and the Battle City Finals, he manages to avoid destruction despite losing first to Yami Yugi, then to Yami Marik. In the English anime, he is highly mocking of his opponents, such as sarcastically telling Yami Yugi "It's a game, you should try to have fun" during the Dark RPG in the final season.

Monster World
Bakura meets Yugi Mutou and his friends Katsuya Jonouchi, Hiroto Honda, Anzu Mazaki, and Miho Nosaka when he is transferred to Domino High School. Bakura tells his new friends that he has a love for games of all types, particularly the RPG "Monster World". However, for some mysterious reason that he cannot explain, everyone who has played with him has fallen into a coma. This is the main reason he transfers schools so often. When Yugi allowed him to hold the Millennium Puzzle, Bakura felt a sharp pain in his chest (later revealed to be the Millennium Ring stabbing into his chest to prevent him from removing it.).

That night, Bakura is busy writing a letter to his sister, Amane (who died in a traffic accident, but Bakura writes letters to her while she is in heaven), a voice announces that he is its new host. Bakura looks down in horror to find that the sharp points of the Millennium Ring are jabbing into his skin. This voice is Dark Bakura, a 3,000 year old ancient spirit from Egypt (Yami Bakura is a 5,000 year old spirit in the English anime), who has his sights set on acquiring the Millennium Puzzle. It also reveals that it has been the one responsible for his friends' comas, sealing their souls within Bakura's game pieces, and twisting Bakura's subconscious desire to be able to play games with his friends forever.

Dark Bakura sets up a miniature Monster World game, and the next day invites his friends to play. Each of the group picks a type of monster they wish to play as, and Dark Bakura seals them inside miniatures of their selected monsters (in order to steal the Millennium Puzzle). Yugi becomes a monster tamer, Jonouchi a warrior, Hiroto a magic gunman, Anzu as a magician and Miho becomes a gypsy. But Dark Yugi (occupying Yugi's body) challenges Dark Bakura to free his friends.

The good personality of Bakura managed to emerge during the RPG, taking control of the his left hand. The good Bakura intentionally fumbled several critical dice rolls, giving Dark Yugi an edge in the game. Once Dark Bakura realized this, he stabbed the hand controlled by his other self on a castle tower of the game board, laughing madly, which made Dark Yugi realize he wasn't battling the real Bakura. Later on into the game, Bakura joined the others as a player in the game (the white mage). The Dark Bakura was furious at this and proceeded to attack the defenseless players. However, Bakura wouldn't let that happen and created a barrier between them and the attack. Unfortunately, he ran out of magic and had to use the last of his HP (killing his character in the process). However, good Bakura would not be defeated and sealed his soul into the pair of possessed dice that Dark Bakura was cheating with. Then he revealed his plans to lose the game for his friends by shattering the possessed dice (which would kill both Bakuras in the process) to Dark Bakura. Hearing this, Dark Bakura tried using the power of the Millennium Ring to destroy Bakura's soul. But it was too late; Bakura caused the dice to shatter, effectively ending the game and killing himself in the process.

Bakura survived the incident and when the game ended the others were revived as well.

Obtaining the Millennium Ring
When Bakura was a child, his father had bought the Millennium Ring, and gave it to him. Unbeknownst to them, the Ring contained Yami Bakura, an ancient and malignant spirit.

Duelist Kingdom


Bakura is briefly seen in the first episode, watching Yugi Muto Duel Joey Wheeler, and then again when Joey is Dueling Téa Gardner, although his face is not seen.

Bakura somehow bypasses security and boards the ship to Duelist Kingdom despite not being selected by Maximillion Pegasus to be an official Duelist in the tournament. He is spotted by Téa on the ship and on the Duelist Kingdom island however she thinks her mind is playing tricks on her.

After Yugi and Joey have won a number of Duels in the tournament, Bakura approaches the group (which also includes Téa and Tristan Taylor). He spends some time with them and they all discuss what their favorite Duel Monsters cards are. Bakura reveals his favorite card to be "Change of Heart".

Yugi and Bakura agree to a Duel with Yugi's Deck including his friends' favorite cards. As the Duel starts, Bakura turns into Yami Bakura with his Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura traps Yugi, his friends and the normal Bakura into their favorite Duel Monster cards, leaving Yami Yugi to save his friends lives (this is the anime's outlook on the first series anime and manga's Monster World RPG story arc).

When Yami Bakura plays "Change of Heart", Bakura appears as the card. Bakura asks Yugi to kill him, as he cannot bear to be controlled by the evil spirit inside his ring. Instead, Yami Yugi switches the souls of Bakura and Yami Bakura, then Yugi sends Yami Bakura to the Graveyard.



After the incident, Bakura accompanies the group as Yugi and Joey continue to battle through the tournament. Bakura's ring helps them escape from a cave.

During the night before the tournament finals, Bakura, Téa and Tristan decide to explore Pegasus' castle for clues on how he is able to beat his opponents so easily. Pegasus finds them and traps them in a vision of Ancient Egypt, but Yami Bakura helps them escape. They return to their beds thinking it was a dream.

During the final Duel between Yugi and Pegasus, Tristan sneaks off and Yami Bakura follows him. After a confrontation between the two, Tristan figures out that Bakura being is controlled by an evil spirit in his Millennium Ring, so Tristan throws it out of a window.

When Yugi defeats Pegasus, Yami Bakura again takes control of Bakura and the ring reappears. Yami Bakura challenges Pegasus to a Shadow Game (between their Millennium Items instead of in Duel Monsters), and defeats him, taking his Millennium Eye.

After the tournament finishes, Bakura returns to school along with the rest of the group.

Battle City
After Yugi's Millennium Puzzle is stolen, Téa informs Bakura. Yami Bakura takes over and uses his Ring to track down the Puzzle. When he is taken to an old warehouse, he sees that Yugi is Dueling with Bandit Keith, possessed by Marik Ishtar. Yami Bakura tries to break Marik's control over Keith, sending Keith on a rampage where he breaks the Millennium Puzzle. The normal Bakura takes over and knocks Keith back to rescue Yugi. Yami Bakura seals a fragment of his soul into a piece of the Millennium Puzzle without Yugi's knowledge.

When the Battle City tournament is taking place, Bakura is stabbed in the arm by Yami Bakura as part of Yami Bakura and Marik Ishtar's plan to get the trust of Yugi. Bakura doesn't know how he got the injury, but Marik helps him out, winning the trust of Yugi's friends.



Bakura is taken to hospital by Solomon Muto. While recovering in hospital, Yami Bakura takes over and escapes by overpowering Solomon. He acquires a Duel Disk and the required number of Locator Cards to enter the finals.

Bakura arrives at the quarterfinals, seemingly unaware of his injury. He ignores everyone's protests that he isn't well enough to Duel and boards Kaiba Craft 3 where the Duels are taking place. When asked how he made it to the finals, he tells his friends that he acquired the Locator Cards himself, but doesn't go into details on how he got them.

Bakura is paired up against Yugi. When the Duel starts he turns into Yami Bakura. When Yami Bakura is about to win, Yugi plays "Slifer the Sky Dragon", guaranteeing Yugi's victory.

To avoid defeat, Marik orders Yami Bakura to let Bakura take control. When this happens, Bakura emerges in the Duel, still injured from the stab and an attack from "Slifer the Sky Dragon" would risk his life. Yami Bakura refuses to take the risk, as he needs Bakura to survive. He retakes control and lets Yugi defeat him. Bakura is left in a coma and the Ring is lost in the Duel, but is returned by Téa being controlled by Marik.

When Marik's body is taken over by Yami Marik, Marik, in Téa's body, insists on Bakura's assistance. Yami Bakura challenges Yami Marik, and ultimately loses. The ring falls into the hands of Yami Marik. After Yugi defeats Yami Marik, Marik relinquishes the ring to Yugi for Bakura's own safety. Bakura wakes from his coma after Yugi defeats Marik and returns home.

Waking the Dragons
Bakura doesn't show up in this arc, but Yami Bakura shows up in a vision involving the Millennium Puzzle. Surprisingly, Bakura was mentioned by Joey on one occasion.

Dawn of the Duel
At the beginning of the Pharaoh's Memories arc, Bakura runs away from a voice, and attempts to hide in a church. That voice tells him that he still needs to acquire the other Millennium Items. That voice - Yami Bakura - then possesses him. Later on, Yami Bakura takes the Millennium Ring back from Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, who mistakenly took Yugi's Millennium Items while trying to steal his Egyptian God Cards.

Soon after Yami Bakura engages in a Dark RPG which recreated the events of Yami Yugi's own life. After Yami Bakura ventures to the Memory World through the Dark RPG, Bakura is finally free from his control following the destruction of Zorc and the subsequent destruction of Yami Bakura. After the game, Bakura was seen collapsed on the stairs leading to the Tablet of Lost Memories, and Joey thought it was a good idea to give Bakura's ring back to Yugi.

Bakura travels with Yugi and his friends to Egypt to witness Atem's departure and the Ceremonial Battle.

Deck
While Bakura himself hasn't ever been shown using the Deck in either the manga or anime, it's implied that the first two Decks that Yami Bakura used were actually built by Ryo.

During Duelist Kingdom, Bakura's Deck is based on disrupting, or breaking his opponent's strategies through various cards including "White Magical Hat", "Morphing Jar" and Bakura's favorite card "Change of Heart". His Yami uses this Deck for his extempore Tarot-Session with Pegasus, and it is implied, that the entire Deck was created under this point of view, since the Japanese name of Bakura's "Lady of Faith" is "Highpriestess", one of the traditional cards in a Tarot-Deck (usually associated with wisdom and love).

Bakura used an Occult Deck during Battle City, focusing on the darker side of the occult by making extensive use of Fiend monsters. The signature card of this Deck is "Dark Necrofear". Using "Dark Necrofear" with "Dark Sanctuary", "The Dark Door" and "Dark Spirit of the Silent" he had total control over opposing monsters while "Destiny Board" gathers "Spirit Messages" to declare an automatic win. Although only Yami Bakura was shown using the Occult Deck, Ryo claimed to be fond of grotesque cards and that he had a pretty good Occult Deck.

During Millennium World, Bakura further adds to his Occult Deck and it now incorporates monsters that reflect on his ancient self Thief King Bakura, such as the "Diabound Kernel", which refers to Thief King Bakura's Ka "Diabound", as well as using "Spirit Shield", which Thief King also used to protect his Ka and the tablet cards.

Duel Monsters
Bakura uses assorted low-Level monsters as a first-tier opponent in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. He appears in the common area of the ship headed to Duelist Kingdom. He uses mostly DARK Fiend Monsters.

Nightmare Troubadour
Bakura uses a Zombie Deck.